FROM AN AMERICAN PRIVATE COLLECTION
A LOUIS XVI TWO-COLOUR GOLD BONBONNIÈRE SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
Details
A LOUIS XVI TWO-COLOUR GOLD BONBONNIÈRE SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
Paris, 1789, with the charge and discharge of Jean-François Kalendrin, maker's mark partly rubbed, first letter "N", the enamel miniature by Nicolas-André Courtois, signed
Circular gold box, the cover and base engine-turned with concentric circles scattered with pellets, the sides with similarly adorned horizontal reeded guilloché, the sablé borders chased in two-colour gold with trailing leaves alternating with flower sprigs, the centre of the base engraved with a rosette, the cover set with a miniature painted in enamel on copper depicting a young lady resting on a green cushion, her high-piled curly brown hair entwined with a yellow scarf, wearing a low-cut lilac corsage with frill-bordered white underslip -- the box 63 mm diam., the miniature 46 mm diam.
Paris, 1789, with the charge and discharge of Jean-François Kalendrin, maker's mark partly rubbed, first letter "N", the enamel miniature by Nicolas-André Courtois, signed
Circular gold box, the cover and base engine-turned with concentric circles scattered with pellets, the sides with similarly adorned horizontal reeded guilloché, the sablé borders chased in two-colour gold with trailing leaves alternating with flower sprigs, the centre of the base engraved with a rosette, the cover set with a miniature painted in enamel on copper depicting a young lady resting on a green cushion, her high-piled curly brown hair entwined with a yellow scarf, wearing a low-cut lilac corsage with frill-bordered white underslip -- the box 63 mm diam., the miniature 46 mm diam.
Provenance
Paris, Heine Collection (acquired en bloc by John Pierpont Morgan); New York, Collection of John Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913); his sale, Christie's, London, 24-27 June 1935, lot 489, sold 139.18 pounds; Lady Louise Lloyd-Jones; thence by family descent.
Literature
George C. Williamson, Catalogue of the Collection of Miniatures, The Property of J. Pierpont Morgan, vol. III, London, 1907, p. 152, nr 524 (the miniaturist erroneously identified as Marie Courtois).