The largest of our antique French powder boxes, c.1810-30 Grand Tour souvenir type, with a miniature painting of Miss Elizabeth, sister of French King Louis XVI, sister-in-law to Marie-Antoinette. Overly large at nearly 4" in diameter, nearly 2" tall, it would originally have had a big ostrich down powder pull inside, with ivory handle. Made like a large table snuff box, however, and beautiful in either collection. Objects like these were very popular with the early Grand Tour travelers, as mementos to remind them of their visit to France, or to Versailles in particular. I do not think this is an original sitting done in 1760-70s, but it could be earlier than I've dated it. Note the delicately carved gadroon border on outer top. Entirely hand and lathe carved, beautifully done.
Very good to excellent condition for age and type, the portrait is painted in gouache on thin large ivory wafer and hasn't a bit of loss or damage. It is not warped. You can easily see the artist's signature. The very old ivory has an age/shrinkage crack on the upper border, below the figure. This is quite normal as the natural material shrinks over time. Otherwise, this is an exceptionally fine work of art and artistry. Portrait is excellent, easily identifiable, and is signed by the artist. No staining to the old ivory.
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.
