Antique Georgian Portrait Minitaure, 1750-70 Tortoise Shell Snuff Box, 12K Gold Pique & Frame - Georgian
With only the slightest loss of some of the 12k gold pique work on the rim, this beautiful old English snuff box would be at home in the most sophisticated collections, and certainly is figuring well in mine at the moment, displayed in a converted French armoire, now a vitrine. The painting is in watercolor or gauche on ivory wafer, and it suffers no losses at all and is a captivating sidelong view of a stately gentleman. In its time, only the very wealthy and titled of society were able to afford to have their likeness so captured for posterity, and yet we haven't any information about this dignified man, sadly enough. But he survives the centuries as you see him, perfectly preserved under the orignal convex cover glass, framed in 12k gold with 12k gold pique trim, and the snuff box is entirely shell. A superb find! Very good condition for age and type, the painting is pristine as you see it. The expressive sidelong glance of this mid to late 1700s gentleman in his powdered hairdo