Object Description
A very fine High Carat Gold & Silver (tested) Stick-pin with an Enamel Miniature Portrait of Francois Premier with a Diamond set surround.
The image in question derives from a portrait of Francois Premier painted in 1538/1539 by the celebrated Venetian artist Titian, most likely to commemorate the alliance of the French with the Ottoman Empire under Suleiman the Magnificent. The present image is in reverse of the original by Titian, now in the Louvre, most likely deriving from the engravings of Pierre Gérard Jérôme Niel in his “Portraits Des Personnages Français Les Plus Illustres Du XVIe Siècle, Reproduits, En Fac Simile, Sur Les Originaux Dessinés Aux Crayons De Couleur Par Divers Artistes Contemporains: Recueil Publié Avec Notices Par P.G.J. Niel.” published in 1848.
The widespread dissipation of these engravings combined with the fact that the Stick-pin is unmarked plausibly means that the piece may be of either English or French manufacture
Circa 1880