French Louis XVI Gilt Bronze Ormolu & Green Guilloche Enamel Picture Frame

Details

Description

A finely executed Continental miniature portrait, likely French or Austrian, dating to the late 19th century, depicting an 18th-century noblewoman … Read more A finely executed Continental miniature portrait, likely French or Austrian, dating to the late 19th century, depicting an 18th-century noblewoman in powdered coiffure and court attire. The sitter, rendered with delicate brushwork on ivory or ivory-substitute panel, wears a pale pink bodice trimmed with lace and a green mantle adorned with floral accents, typical of Rococo revival taste. Her coiffure is dressed high and festooned with flowers, recalling portraits of Marie Antoinette and contemporaries in the court of Versailles.

The portrait is housed in an exceptional ormolu-mounted frame, bordered with a vibrant emerald green guilloché enamel ground and enclosed within a beaded gilt bronze surround. The crest is surmounted by a cast bronze ribbon-tied laurel branch finial in the Louis XVI style, reinforcing the Neoclassical aesthetic popular in revivalist decorative arts of the Belle Époque.

The combination of guilloché enamel and finely cast gilt bronze is characteristic of high-quality Viennese or Parisian miniature frames produced in the final decades of the 19th century, often associated with firms such as Fabergé, Thieffry Frères, or Hanau ateliers. These frames were intended as objets de luxe and were frequently retailed through prestigious houses.



Measures:

5.875" w x 8.625" h

3.125" w x 4" h (image window) See less