Elegant 18th to 19th Century French Portrait Miniature Snuff Box, Patch or Powder Box in Ivory
A lovely portrait miniature of an 18th century beauty, from the era of Marie-Antoinette and French King Louis XVI, and all indications of it having been made in that era, too. Size of 18th century snuff boxes is smaller in diameter and a little taller, which this one is. The carved ivory box has just one aspect which makes me wonder if it is early to mid-19th century, though, made as a revival box for tourist trade of the first half of 1800s. That detail is the curvature on the interior of the box's bottom half. Also, while it is the right size for a snuff box, more typical for a snuff would be to have a lining of tortoise shell. In that early to mid-1800s period, powder boxes and trinket or bonbon boxes were popular, often complete with an ivory-knob topped ostrich down powder puff. That said, the painting remains under its convex cover glass and you can see various angles of shine from our photo lights. I did not take her out of mount, so you see slight distortion of the convex gla