PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CALIFORNIAN COLLECTION (lots 178-185)

A Napoleon III painting on ivory, depicting the Duchess of Bourgogne, in an ormolu-mounted tortoiseshell frame**

THE PAINTING SIGNED PONZEL, CIRCA 1860

Details

A Napoleon III painting on ivory, depicting the Duchess of Bourgogne, in an ormolu-mounted tortoiseshell frame**
The painting signed Ponzel, Circa 1860
Depicting the Duchesse attended by a page and a putto with basket of flowers, signed Ponzel, the ormolu frame surmounted by two putti above a bed of scrolling acanthus supporting a ducal coronet, above tortoiseshell inset sides applied with trailing flowers, the back engraved Mme. La Duchesse de Bourgogne and with partially indistinct ink stamp [.]O[.]S[.]GH
Overall: 11¾in. (29.8cm.) high; 7¼in. (18.5cm.) wide

Lot Essay

The duchesse de Bourgongne (d.1712), began life as Marie-Adélaïde de Savoie, the eldest daughter of the duc de Savoie. As part of an agreement to strengthen France's ties with Savoy, she married the duc de Bourgogne, grandson of Louis XIV, in 1697. The duchesse was brought up at the French court and became a favourite of the King. As such, she was often depicted by the renowned artists of the time, in both painting and sculpture.

Tragically, the duc and duchesse de Bourgogne, along with their oldest son, the duc de Bretagne, died within days of each other during a measles outbreak in 1712. As a result, the ageing Louis XIV was left with only one great-grandson, the future king Louis XV.

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