WILLIAM HOPKINS CRAFT (BRITISH, C. 1730/35-1811)

Details

WILLIAM HOPKINS CRAFT (BRITISH, C. 1730/35-1811)
Marguerite Françoise, Comtesse de Buffon (1767-1808), in pink dress with purple sash and gauze fichu, wearing a gold and blue enamel bracelet, gold and silver rings on her fingers and gold hoop earrings, holding a watch in her left hand, brown curling hair, leaning against a mantelpiece; interior background with carved marble fire surround, over-mantel mirror with initials 'ZAB', a letter inscribed 'je viens' and a glass vase filled with flowers
signed and dated on the counter-enamel 'Mad^{m<\sup>: / La Comtesse / de Buffon. / W:H: Craft. / fec^{t<\sup>. / 1790.'

enamel on copper

oval, 6.5/8 in. (167 mm.) high, gilt-metal frame with foliate detail}}

Brought to you by

Emma Durkin

edurkin@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2609

Lot Essay

The sitter was the daughter of Guillaume François, 2nd Marquis de Cepoy and Élisabeth Amaranthe Jogues de Martinville. In 1784, she married Georges Louis Marie Leclerc de Buffon (1764-1794) but subsequently became the official mistress of Louis Philippe, Duc d'Orléans (1747-1793), by whom she had one son, Victor (1792-1812). She divorced her husband in 1794, and in 1798, married General Julien Raphaël Renouard de Bussière.

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