Catalog: Fine Art: Paintings (339)

A finely painted portrait miniature, on natural wafer, of a bespectacled officer of the 7th Bengal Native Infantry of the Honourable East India Company. Done in vibrant colors and wonderful; detail, the work can be strongly attributed to Raja Jivan Ram. Works from this period in this style by Indian artists are quite uncommon and highly collected. More specifically, very few works by Ram are in private hands.

The painting here is in overall excellent condition, with no chips, cracks, or bowing...

A superbly limned portrait by Daniel Dickinson, done in watercolor on natural material. The sitter is a young man of the Brown family of Philadelphia. This painting was exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, "Exhibition of Miniatures", April 22 - May 6, 1893, and was descended through the Brown family..

The condition of the miniature is superb, with no issues of any kind...

A strong naïve miniature portrait, rendered in oil and watercolor on organic wafer, which is a very unusual combination. The sitter is a fine looking gentleman attired in a white shirt and collar, with a black jacket, vest and tie. He is seated in a formal armchair, holding a green covered book, in front of a red drapery with a red tasseled tieback...

A miniature portrait, done in watercolor on organic wafer, and signed on the reverse: "Painted by/ T. Barratt/ 136 Chestnut/ Phila/ 1838". The sitter is a young gentleman with sideburns, wearing a black jacket and cravat. Presented in a gilt metal foliate case with an empty glazed rear aperture.

The painting has no chips, cracks, bowing, mold, paint loss, etc., with the case also being in fine condition. The overall size is 2 3/4" by 2 3/8".

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Thomas E...

A beautifully painted miniature portrait, on natural organic material, with an attribution to Pauline Augustin. The sitter, a young gentleman of strong presence with brown eyes and long flowing brown hair, is attired in a black coat, with white stock, vest, and shirt. The photograph does not do any justice to the quality of this piece.

The sight size is 4 5/8" by 4" and the framed size is 7 1/4" by 6 5/8". The condition is excellent with no issues or flaws...

A fine miniature painting, attributed to Jeremiah Paul, of a handsome brown-eyed man in a black coat and waistcoat, white shirt and cravat. The reverse of the gilt metal pendant case has a glazed aperture containing a wreath and plait of hair, one of which is most likely the sitters and the other of a loved one. E. Grosvenor Paine provenance.

Condition of the painting and the case are both excellent, without problems...

A finely done miniature portrait painting by Joseph Wood. Although unsigned, there is no question that this fine rendering of a young woman was done by Wood.

Sight size of this nice example is 2 1/4" by 1 13/16", and the period case is 2 1/2" by 2 1/16". The condition of the painting is excellent, with vibrant coloring, and no chips, cracks, or restoration. The period case (and glass) is in excellent condition, but it is missing the back, a replacement for which which can be made...

A fine portrait on natural material of a gentleman in an early 19th century officer's uniform. Within the locket is the remnant of the backing paper of the miniature, which was incorrectly and poorly removed. A portion of the name "Miller" can be seen. Prior to this removal, a previous owner had written down on a piece of paper what had been on the backing paper. This is shown in the third photo and gives a portion of the sitter's name as John L...

A charming and beautifully rendered double portrait miniature attributed to Nathaniel Plimer. Executed in watercolors on natural wafer, he depicted, in classical style, an attractive young woman dressed in a low cut white gown with a reddish robe draped around her. The very young and strikingly angelic child, with fulsome red curls, has its arms clasped around the mother's neck.

This appealing gem is in excellent condition, with no flaws...

A very finely drawn miniature of an extremely handsome man, done en grisaille on organic material by H.M.S. Stuart.

The sitter is Sir Dugald Stuart, 2nd Baronet of Ardmaleish and Bute and the painting is signed, dated and inscribed on the reverse: "From a drawing on/Vellum of Sir Dugald/Stuart, father of the first Earl of Bute;/in the possession of/the Marquess of Bute/at Mount Stuart/by H M...

A fine miniature portrait, attributed to J.V. Sturgeon, of a gent posed in front of a green curtain with blue skies visible through the window. This type of setting is uncommon in American minis, but has been done by Sturgeon in some of his works.

The miniature is set in the original gilded copper pendant with a glazed aperture on the reverse containing plaited dark hair. Excellent condition with no issues to speak of. The sight size is 2 1/2" by 2", with an overall size of 2 5/8" by 2 1/8".

A fine portrait miniature painted by William Lewis. The sitter is an attractive gentleman in a black coat, white vest, stock, and shirt, the latter highlighted with a stick pin containing three rubies. It should be noted that the technique and facial structure of this painting is at a higher level than Lewis' works display (see Note 2 below).

Excellent condition with no issues. Sight size is 2 3/8" by 1 7/8", and the later frame is 2 5/8" by 2 1/4".

BIOPGRAPHICAL NOTES: 1. William Lew...

A superb miniature portrait painting by Giovanni Battista Gigola. The sitter, shown in 3/4 length, is a young man attired in a green coat with brass buttons, posed in front of a cloud filled blue sky. Unframed, and in superb condition, with no cracks, bowing, paint loss, or restoration. This fine example of Gigola's work measures 2 1/2" by 2".

Note: Giovanni Battista Gigola (1767 - 1841) is a highly esteemed Italian artist, best known for his miniature portraits on ivory. His works are in ...

A rare c1835 American miniature by Mrs. Samuel Richardson (1790 - 1852), nee Schetky. It took quite a while, using various lighting settings and filters, to finally discern the almost illegible S (?) Richardson signature along the extreme right. That led me to one of the very few examples of her miniatures, one of which is in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, MO), which confirmed my interpretation. The painting and the cast foliate case which measures 2 1/8" by 1 3/4" are in excellen...

A strong watercolor on organic wafer portrait of a British staff officer. With his mutton-chop whiskers, he is dressed in the well-known red jacket, and sports gold epaulettes. The painting is housed in a wonderful gilt bronze brooch with a guilloche silver back, which displays a nicely tied curl of hair under a glazed aperture.

Sight size is 1 1/2" by 1 1/4", with an overall size of 1 3/4" by 1 1/2". The condition of the painting and the case is excellent, with no issues at all. The white fle...

A watercolor on natural wafer, painted by John Cox Dillman Engleheart. The sitter is a handsome gentleman dressed in a black jacket, white shirt, and gray tie. The glazing on the fron of the case has an eglomise border, with the glazed reverse of the case having opalescent glass on top of which is hairwork fastened with a pearl band and gold threads.

The condition of the painting is excellent, as is that of the case. The hairwork on the reverse has some disturbances. Sight size is 2" by 1 5/8...

A superb miniature portrait of a handsome blue-eyed gentleman. Presented in a cast foliate frame with a hair tress in the glazed aperture on the reverse. Excellent condition. 2 3/8" by 2".

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE: Thomas Seir Cummings was born in England in 1804, and was taken to NYC as a child, where he remained until he retired in 1866. He died in NJ in 1894. Cummings became a student of Henry Inman in 1821 and after three years went into partnership with him, which lasted several years. Wi...

A c1835 delightful and rare miniature by Pamelia Hill, depicting an attractive young woman with hazel eyes and reddish hair gathered in a snood. She is wearing drop earrings and a brooch just below the lace edging of her pleated, deep blue dress. And, of course, the aforementioned snood. Snood, snood, snood...that word always makes me smile.

The painting, in a red leather traveling case, is in excellent condition, having a sight size of 2 1/2" by 2 1/8", and a closed case size of 3" by...