Powder box with miniature. France, XIX century.

Powder box with miniature. France, XIX century.
Portrait in oil.
In tortoiseshell simile.
Measurements: 5 x 5 cm (miniature); 1,5 x 6,5 x 6,5 cm (box).

Small cylindrical box for compact in tortoiseshell simile, of French invoice, with the representation in tondo of a masculine personage of advanced age, gray hair and severe expression. It emphasizes the descriptive detail and psychological capture.

Since the Renaissance, miniature portraits, framed in a circle or oval, were pieces for private contemplation. Considered as jewelry, in the seventeenth century they became pieces of personal adornment or a gift object, being mounted as jewelry. They were made in a great variety of techniques, such as oil on copper, tin or ivory, gouaches on parchment or cardboard and, since the 18th century, watercolor on ivory. This delicate art will be lost since the second half of the 19th century, in parallel to the development of photography. During the 19th century, the most common in this type of pieces were historicist representations, often set in the previous century.