19th C. French 19k Gold Brooch with Enamel Portrait of a Masked Lady

Western Europe, probably France. A portrait brooch centered on an oval painted enamel plaque of a young woman in Louis XVI dress. A cobalt-blue loo mask is drawn across her eyes. Her powdered coiffure rises high and is threaded with blue ribbons. A coral-toned necklace sits above a russet bodice. The enamel is high in lead and contains arsenic, which is typical of the bright, fusible enamels of the period. The mount tests at 80 percent gold, about 19.2 karats. It is built in the revival manner: a pierced, gadrooned oval topped and footed by rosettes and flanked by openwork scrolls. Two striated lozenge drops hang from fine chain swags. The brooch is mounted on an olive velvet roundel inside a gilt wood shadow frame. It is a small, playful backward glance at the masked balls of the ancien regime. Masked ladies in eighteenth-century dress were a favorite subject for painted enamels in the later nineteenth century. During the Second Empire and the decades after it, there was a vogue for Louis XVI fashions and the masquerade balls of Versailles. Portrait plaques like this one were painted in quantity for jewelers and fitted into brooches, lockets, and boxes. Enamel analysis shows the portrait contains up to 12% arsenic and up to 51% lead. Handle it with care and do not wear it against the skin for long periods. Item # 205506

Estimate:$1,000

View all items fromArtemis Fine ArtsorJewelry & Gems