$3,408
Portrait Miniature of a Young Woman, attributed to William Verstille, (American, 1757-1803) watercolor on ivory, circa 1800, showing a bust-length oval portrait of the woman facing right wearing a gray-blue dress with white lace bodice, 2 1/4 x 1 5/8 in. , in an oval gold pendant frame with bright-cut bezel, the reverse with an engraved ivory oval with the initials "LM" with billing doves above and a flower and leafy wreath below, within a hinged oval red leather case. Condition: Very good. Literature: According to Dale T. Johnson in American Portrait Miniatures in the Manney Collection , published by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1990, Verstille's miniatures are distinctive in that he portrayed "his subjects with large piercing, dark eyes, thin brows set too close to the eyes, a long somewhat crooked nose, thin, slightly mispositioned lips that occasionally curl at the corners and bristly hair," all characteristics of ths portrait.
Auctioneer:
Skinner
Date:
2007-02-18
