I do believe this is a 19th century painting of an 18th century French Romantic era scene and in a 19th century copy of the 18th century snuff boxes made similarly. Such as is the case with many done in early to mid-1800s for souvenirs of Grand Tour travelers. They loved the paintings they saw, and coveted the old pique worked snuff boxes, etc., etc.. They loved the historical figures and artwork (Boucher, Fragonard) they learned about and the architecture. And they loved souvenirs. One such traveler might have bought this from a boutique outside Versailles, or one at the Palais Royal of Paris as it's of a courting couple from the Louis XV to Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette era of fashion and aesthetic - the Romantic Era. It's a nice quality for these, and I suppose there is a chance it's authentic 18th century, but my experience as a longtime collector pegs it as souvenir, c.1830-50s, those early Victorian travelers' memento. And I'll price it as that. Full measurements noted on the photos.
Very good to excellent for age and type, even having been a souvenir of almost a century after couples who dressed like this actually lived, it's a fine little antique of 150 or more years. Beautifully preserved, superb antique tortoise shell in mottles of cognac to chocolate. The convex cover glass is fully intact and has done its job very well. No flaws to the old painting. The pique work might be in other metals that gold, which the 18th century ones would have had. I did not open this one up since it's sealed from the back and the cover glass has remained mostly very clean inside, so photos have been taken through that thick convex glass. Those faces are only about 1/8" - imagine.
IMPORTANT NOTE regarding antique tortoise shell or ivory: We are great supporters of protection for endangered species in our modern world. We never buy or sell anything 100 years or newer; we donate to anti-poaching organizations; we don't hunt; we conserve in ways that impact global warming (we're totally solar at home), knowing those measures also protect the animals in the wild today. We also recognize the vast cultural history we preserve with our care and reverence for these antique objects, and agree with CITES that objects over 100 years of age have nothing whatsoever to do with species depletion in our current world.
Our offering exceeds the age limitation of "more than 100 years of age", and is well within the exemption for CITES regulation. If imported, met the CITES regulation. This item will be handled and shipped from our Utah business, and is not available for shipment internationally, nor within the USA to California, NY, Nevada, Hawaii, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington if it contains ivory, sorry. Please see our small print for more details.
