Stunning late 19th to earliest 20th century double portrait miniature, 2 beautiful little blond children - a boy and a girl. Blue eyed, surely brother and sister. The work of art is truly spectacular and yes it is a hand painted miniature. I am not seeing a signature, but I did not take it apart to check outer rim of the painting, nor backside. Those faces are less than 3/8" chin to hairline. Imagine! The mount is truly befitting this painting, a silver locket pendant decorated in kiln-fired enamel set with seed pearls. The elongated stylized bow top and pendant bale are all in perfect condition. An 18k gold 8mm ring added, likely so it could be hung on a wall frame at bedside. Here is my fear - this pendant has mourning elements throughout. I hope it is not true, but mourning jewelry often has the evening or dusk blue sky of heaven, enamel. Mourning jewelry uses seed pearls, which represents the tears of the mourner. And mourning jewelry often included in that era, a curled lock of hair, often held in place with an 18k gold wire as you see on the backside of this double locket frame. Full measurements noted on the photos. Measured in mm, as it is the nature of jewelry. I found this one out of an unnamed collector's estate in England. I believe the children and bespoke pendant are, as well.
Very good to excellent condition throughout. So often there will be damage to the old kiln-fired enamels, far more often than not. This one has none. The seed pearls are high quality, excellent nacre, evenly matched in coloration and range 1-2mm. The oyster-form has deep convex cover glass on each side, and each are excellent. It's notable that the convex cover glass has the feature of making the children viewable in full even when lying flat (see images), or tilted to the side. Interesting. I hate to use the word "precious", but it truly is. Two beautiful children - not ill-fated, we hope.
