Lot 0227: Pair French Portrait Miniatures, Princesse de Lamballe & Merlin de Thionville
Estate Auction: Distinguished Antiques: Fine Porcelain, Victorian Furniture · Sold
← Back to Estate Auction: Distinguished Antiques: Fine Porcelain, Victorian Furniture · All Auctions · Search Active Lots
- Auction
- Estate Auction: Distinguished Antiques: Fine Porcelain, Victorian Furniture
- Lot Number
- 0227
- Status
- Sold
- Hammer / Price
- Sign in to view realized price
- Opening Bid
- $5.00
- Accepted Bids
- 26
- Closed
- 6/21/26 9:43 PM PT
Description
A pair of French portrait miniatures after eighteenth-century models, depicting Marie Thérèse Louise of Savoy, Princesse de Lamballe (1749–1792), confidante of Marie Antoinette, her powdered coiffure dressed with a floral wreath and pale blue ribbons, and the Revolutionary deputy Antoine Christophe Merlin, called Merlin de Thionville (1762–1833), shown with tousled dark curls, open collar, and red-striped waistcoat. Each circular portrait bears an indistinct script signature at right and is mounted within a gilt-brass bezel in a square ebonized frame with a deep circular molded surround. The versos are backed with antiquarian printed book pages identified in ink—"Princesse de Lamballe" and "Merlin de Thionville"—and each carries an oval "Made in France" stamp, a numbered inventory sticker, and a brass hanging ring, consistent with early twentieth-century decorative miniatures in the eighteenth-century manner. Good condition, with scattered scuffs and surface wear to the ebonized frames and toning, staining, and edge losses to the backing papers; the portraits themselves retain strong color and detail. Each frame measures 4.5 × 4.5 in.