Of course he's in a quite substantial 18k locket frame, hinged and with large bale, all tested and confirmed at 18k. V RARE portrait miniature, "Incroyables et Merveilleuses" - (incredibles and marvelous) the slightly smug face of a spoiled rich fashionable Parisian making political statement. An exquisite but unsigned French portrait miniature, outlandish pink hair or topper wig, dog-ears fashion which along with the massive cravat and jaunty printed vest, and pale green broad-lapel waistcoat sets him squarely into the "Incroyables", c.1795-1799. this blue-eyed young man who wears an elaborate white cravat with gold pin, and the ribbon of the Revolution (thick-wrapped cravat - reminder of the neck wounds of the guillotined Royals). He might well have been one of the wealthy students at the 1832 student uprising, Paris, barricade of a real-life Les Miserables, but in fact he dates earlier. The portrait is, I am certain, c.1795-99, instead, mean he is an aristocrat in support of Royalty overthrown and beheaded in The Terror. "Mods" in their time. A fashion celebrating excess, riches, these young people scandalized Paris in the days after the execution of Robespierre. The history is wonderful and must be read. The fat cravat is a typical sign of support and memorial to those aristocrats who were overthrown in the French Revolution, late 1700s. So he's somewhere between 1795 to 1799 when the fashion exuberance faded. Opening his 18k locket-style frame, I find it stuffed with 8 hand colored c.1700s playing cards, cut to fit. Surely they had some significance to this Incroyable. A suggestion on back that he is "Pierre-Aimable-Joseph Rouselle (1761-1840), époux de Esther-Joseph Canonne", whom I did try to find, but there was no history to access with quick-search.
Very good to excellent, with the single flaw that crack in the thick convex cover glass on the backside of the locket-like hinged frame. It is holding together fine as it is, and I suspect it once showed a plaited lock of his hair, such was the tradition of the time. Perhaps a plain lock tied in a ribbon. He has intense gray eyes, and wears the typical dog-ear hairstyle but a bit swept back. His bold fashion of striped vest and that thick post-guillotine cravat, along with his dog-ear hair, makes him easy to identify as one of the Incroyables. Such rare images. I've collected these fashion/political statement rich young French people long. Time to disburse my collections. Isn't he just "incredible!".
