Charles Boit

Portrait of Catherine Blount Colored painter's enamel on copper. Bust portrait in a red dress against a blue background. 4.3 x 3.8 cm. Capsule frame in 18 ct gold with mirror monogram engraved on the reverse. Attributed to Charles Boit, Paris, first quarter of the 18th century. The son of a Frenchman living in Stockholm, Boit is considered one of the greatest masters of enamel painting of his time. In 1687 he became court miniaturist to King William III in London, but later also worked for other European courts, with stations in Amsterdam, Düsseldorf, Vienna and Dresden. From 1705 he lived in Paris, where he became a member of the Académie Royale de Peinture et Sculpture. Provenance Lempertz Cologne auction 622 on June 26, 1987, lot 1559. Rhenish private collection. Exhibitions The Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures, South Kensington Museum, London, June 1865. Literature Listed in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures on Loan at the South Kensington Museum, London 1865, no. 1189. On the artist see Schidlof, The Miniature in Europe in the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, Graz 1964, Vol. I, p. 91 f.