Lot Essay
A similar miniature by Mosnier, also depicting a female artist, is in the Louvre (see exhibition catalogue L'âge d'or du petit portrait, Bordeaux, Geneva and Paris, 1995-1996, p. 289).
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Details
JEAN-LAURENT MOSNIER (FRENCH, 1743/1744 - 1808)
A young lady, in lace-trimmed white satin robe à la polonaise adorned with blue silk bows, white ostrich feathers, black aigrette, pink roses and leaves in her high-piled powdered hair, seated at a Louis XVI table arranged with blue silk drapery, a book and a vase with flowers, her arms resting on a drawing paper, holding a pencil, easel with a sketch in the background
dated '1776' (mid-left)
on ivory
2.7/8 in. (72 mm.) diam., two-colour gold mount chased with a laurel and berry border
A young lady, in lace-trimmed white satin robe à la polonaise adorned with blue silk bows, white ostrich feathers, black aigrette, pink roses and leaves in her high-piled powdered hair, seated at a Louis XVI table arranged with blue silk drapery, a book and a vase with flowers, her arms resting on a drawing paper, holding a pencil, easel with a sketch in the background
dated '1776' (mid-left)
on ivory
2.7/8 in. (72 mm.) diam., two-colour gold mount chased with a laurel and berry border
Provenance
A Family; Christie's, London, 17 October 1995, lot 113.
Literature
L. R. Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, II, pp. 575 (described as 'excellent'), 1012, illustrated IV, pl. 417, no. 850.
N. Lemoine-Bouchard, Les Peintres en miniature actifs en France 1650-1850, Paris, 2008, p. 393.
N. Lemoine-Bouchard, Les Peintres en miniature actifs en France 1650-1850, Paris, 2008, p. 393.
Exhibited
Vienna, Albertina, Internationale Miniaturen-Ausstellung in der Albertina Wien, 1924, no. 613, illustrated pl. VI, opposite p. 44.
Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Chefs-d'oeuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, 1956, no. 311.
Vienna, Albertina, Meisterwerke der europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750 bis 1850, 1965, no. 289.
Geneva, Musée d'art et d'histoire, Chefs-d'oeuvre de la miniature et de la gouache, 1956, no. 311.
Vienna, Albertina, Meisterwerke der europäischen Miniaturmalerei von 1750 bis 1850, 1965, no. 289.
Special Notice
Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.
Brought to you by
Katharine Cooke