21 - Round black tortoiseshell box with a concave rim

Round black tortoiseshell box with a concave rim Set in 2nd-grade gold (840 millièmes) The lid is inlaid with an oval miniature portrait of a young nobleman in a left-facing bust (previously identified as Gaston d’Orléans), wearing a wig and a lace jabot, rendered in enamel painted on gold, with a gold ring set against an amati background, under a domed glass cover with a half-bezel of blue-enameled, guilloché-patterned silver. Lined with gold on the inside. Good condition, two cracks in the miniature. Paris, 1819–1838. Goldsmith: Catherine Adélaïde Duponnois (active 1822–1837) for the firm “Vachette à Paris” (signature engraved on the inner rim). The miniature is attributed to Jean I Petitot (Geneva, 1607–Vevey, 1691). H. 2.6 x W. 2.3 cm (miniature). H. 1.8 x D. 8 cm (box). Gross weight: 106.2 g. Provenance - Martial Lapeyre Collection (1904–1984). - Fondation Napoléon (Paris) following the bequest by Martial Lapeyre in 1984. Exhibitions - Philippe Hoch (ed.), Splendors of the Empire. Around Napoleon and the Imperial Court, exhibition catalog, Manderen, Château de Malbrouck (March 15, 2009–August 31, 2009), Éditions Serpenoise, 2009, p. 85. - Bernard Chevallier (ed.), *Napoleone: Imperial Splendor—The Treasures of the Fondation Napoléon*, exhibition catalog, Rome, Museo Napoleonico (February 15, 2008–May 25, 2008) & Portoferraio, Museo nazionale delle residenze napoleoniche (June 12, 2008–September 12, 2008), Éditions Sillabe, 2008, p. 191.