Sale:
BK05 (30 Mar 2011)
Auction Lot:
0334
Estimate: £40,000-£50,000
Realised: £130,000
A Catalogue of the different Specimens of Cloth Collected in the Three Voyages of
Captain Cook to the Southern Hemisphere.
Sale:
MA12 (15 Jun 2011)
Auction Lot:
0140
Estimate: £1,200-£1,500
Realised: £1,700
A Chilean 12 bolt copper and brass diving helmet.
Sale:
FS11 (13 Jul 2011)
Auction Lot:
0709
Estimate: £5,000-£7,000
Realised: £5,700
An imposing Victorian burr walnut veneered library bookcase. A gift from HM Queen
Mary to the Officers Association.
The Portrait Miniature
The portrait miniature was conceived as a pocket size memento, a love token, personal
advertisement or propaganda. Roman and Grecian miniature portraits on jewellery
were often expressions of love and fidelity. In the dark ages, the depiction of
a ruler on the head of a coin was an overt and dramatic image for propaganda purposes.
During the Italian renaissance numerous icons were spawned and as the ruling dynasties
of the Italian courts grew, their portraits were made and circulated to gain favour
and control. In the 18th century, The Enlightenment, and the perceived liberation
of the individual, the newly empowered celebrated their own identities and this
launched the heyday of the miniature portrait in England.
The antique miniature portrait is an image, a record, of a real person, long gone.
Often undated with no clue to artist or sitter……and herein lies a great adventure.
We can look into the eyes of the subject, to invent and draw our own conclusions
from our interpretations and our own experiences.
With experimental photography as early as the 1830s, by the mid-Victorian era photographic
portraits were widely accessible and the painted miniature was in decline. The miniatures
that remain give an opportunity to interpret and understand the past through the
faces of our ancestors and those who shaped the world we live in.
At Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood, we regularly offer fine miniatures from the
18th & 19th Centuries and good examples can be bought for anything between £100-£1000
– there’s even one of a pet dog!
- The Portrait Miniature
- Glassware
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About the Author
The Portrait Miniature was written on Friday, 2nd January 2009.