Jean Toutin the Younger (1619-1660)

Details

Jean Toutin the Younger (1619-1660)

A Double-Sided Miniature depicting on the concave counter-enamel Queen Christina of Sweden, facing left in red dress with blue cloak fastened with a pearl clasp, white underslip, a rope of pearls with drop pearl pendant, her brown hair falling in curls and braided in a bun; the convex enamel depicting the Choice of Paris

enamel, oval, 1 7/8in. (47mm.) high, gold bezel

Provenance

Ashcroft Collection, sold Sotheby's, 7 May 1946, lot 9
Robert Rockcliff, sold Sotheby's, 11 November 1947, lot 139, as probably by Henry Toutin (95 gns.)
S. H. V. Dickson, sold Sotheby's, 29 March 1965, lot 11

Literature

B. Long, 'Ashcroft Miniatures', The Connoisseur, LXXV, July 1926, p. 132, no. 4, ill. p. 133

Exhibited

London, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1924-1939

Lot Essay

Christina Vasa (1626-1689), daughter of King Gustav Adolph II and Marie Eleonore of Brandenburg, was Queen of Sweden 1632 until her abdication in 1654. An important patron of the Arts, she converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome where she died, unmarried.
According to H. Clouzot, (Dictionnaire des miniaturistes sur émail, Paris, 1924, p. 197), Jean II Toutin went to Sweden in 1645 and became Enamel Painter of Queen Christina. Dr. Hans Boeckh, Geneva, qualifies the present enamel as 'outstanding' and Christie's is indebted to him for dating it to circa 1648.

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