Dauphin? My favorite! Well, they're all my favorites, aren't they. Stunningly fine c.1750-70s table snuff box in exceptionally fine condition, a portrait miniature of a child in white with red sash, long hair. The oval mat around the child's portrait tests 18k gold, the rest of the bands test 10k gold. Not a nip nor chip in that interior lining. This is a museum piece for certain, and if we only could identify this child, who I think is ill-fated Louis XVII, child of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, we'd be closer. I'm adding in a photo of him. The similarities are striking, and in several of his portraits we see a more formal placement of a red sash as bandelo-cross body. He was the Dauphin of France (next to be king, Louis Joseph, who died in June, 1789, a month before the French Revolution). He was just 7 when he died of tuberculosis. This portrait might either be one of the late portraits while he was alive, or perhaps painted after he had died. The child has dark circles under his eyes and does not look well. It would certainly explain the exquisitely well preserved condition, were it in fact the memorial piece kept by a mother or father. Louis XVI and his wife, Queen Marie-Antoinette met the guillotine not so long after, and it is impossible to know who might have had it all these centuries. It came from an anonymous estate, disbursed through a fine auction house in Paris. You be the judge. I'm 80% sure I am right. There was once a seal beneath the portrait miniature (see images, sealing wax) but it has been removed. Also note the backing of the sealed portrait has a Goldsmith's card. Many French courtiers and also decorative arts artists fled to England to avoid the guillotine. More indication it is a posthumous piece, perhaps? I did not open the painting further.
Very good to excellent. The most elegantly decorated large snuff box of them all, entirely in the layered paint and varnish method developed by the Brothers Martin, and referred to still as "Vernis Martin". The decorative style was Marie-Antoinette's favorite, and widely utilized throughout her era. If I'm right, it is likely this snuff is directly at the hand of the Brothers Martin, whose work "du Roy" (to the King) would also add value. Delicate portrait of an ill child, protected beneath the original convex cover glass. Look it over. Do some research. Enjoy it with me. Measurements noted on the photos.
