An 18k gold and malachite bonbonnière with a portrait miniature
The faces each set with thin malachite plaques, the gold mountings decorated with chased acanthus foliage. The lid set with a very fine enamel miniature "en pointillé" depicting an elegantly dressed Baroque lady in a low cut gown, identified as Madame de Montespan, in an octagonal glazed surround of bi-coloured gold with acanthus scrolls. With gold lining. Hallmarks: Indistinct Parisian year letter, maker's mark of Adrien-Jean Maximilien Vachette. A minor chip to the rim of the miniature. Small chips and a minute loss to the rims of the malachite plaques of the faces and base. Diameter 8 cm. Weight 183.37 g.
Paris, Adrien-Jean Maximilien Vachette (Cauffry 1753 - Paris 1839). Die Miniatur Jean Petitot (Genf 1607 - Vevey 1697) zugeschrieben.
Francoise de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan (Lussac 1640 - 1707 Bourbon l'Archambault), who referred to herself as Athénais, was an influential mistress of the French “Roi Soleil” Louis XIV. She was involved in the infamous Affair of the Poisons and subsequently fell out of favour at court.
Jean Petitot was one of the most important enamel miniaturists of the 17th century. Born in Geneva, Petitot worked at the court of the English king Charles I for several years before becoming court miniaturist to Louis XIV of France in 1649. As a Protestant, he was forced to return to Geneva under the Edict of Nantes in 1685, where he died in 1691.
Literature
For further portraits of Madame de Montespan by Petitot, see: Garnier-Pelle/Lemoine Bouchard/Pappe, Portraits des maisons royales et impériales de France et d'Europe - Les Miniatures du musée Condé à Chantilly, Paris 2007, no. 267, 268.