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In case the fabulous new exhibition "The Look of Love" at the Birmingham Museum of Art has caught your eye (so to speak) and your interest in creating a new collection, I've got a fabulous lover's eye portrait miniature that you can use to start your collection or add to it.  I've collected these eye miniatures for several years and this is the first one I've offered for sale.  They are quite rare and extremely sought-after.  Lover's eyes (sometimes called Georgian eyes) are descendants of jewelry depicting individual eyes during Roman times.  The 18th century model probably started in France, but the short-lived trend (if one can call such a small number of paintings a "trend") for lover's eye portrait miniatures that we seek out today started in 1785 when the Prince of Wales (later King George IV) commissioned portrait miniaturist Richard Cosway to paint his eye which he delivered to the woman he was trying to woo.  Catholic Maria Fitzherbert had rejected the Prince's determined advances to the point that she had moved to France to escape him.  Her move only seemed to make the Prince more determined to win her love.  He sent the Cosway portrait of his eye to her with a letter which stated "at ye, same time and eye, if you have not totally forgotten ye, whole countenance, I think ye, likeness will strike you."¹

Queen Victoria revived the trend of eye miniatures soon after her coronation in 1837.  She had eye miniatures painted of all of her children, friends and relatives and some which she used for presentation pieces.  Most 18th and 19th century eye miniatures were British.  American artists painted very, very few of them.

Lover's eye miniatures symbolize a forbidden love.  They are very small so that they could be worn in secret, either a brooch pinned to a secret place, such the inner fabric of a man's lapel, or as a pendant that could be worn on a lady's long chain and tucked into her sash or belt.  An eye might have been set into a ring that could be worn turned to the inner part of the hand.  A few were set into the tops of small utilitarian boxes such as would hold toothpicks or a lady's face patches.  The majority of lover's eyes are of women, indicating that a woman most often gifted these eyes to her gentleman friend, possibly to suggest that she was watching over him during his daily activities.

This stunning eye miniature is of a woman with hazel eyes and brunette curls over her temples.  She is set in a spectacular gold cannetille work pendant frame with a brooch pin on the back.  Cannetille work was developed in England about 1790.  It has highly intricate coils and tendrils of gold wire set onto a filigreed base forming tiny rosettes and loops which imitate fine gold lace that was popular in the period.²  Cannetille work is generally made with an intense yellow gold (as it is here).  This cannetille pendant frame is beautifully set with foiled gemstones.  I am no gemologist but the stones are flat cut, faceted rubies (which represent passion) or almandine garnets (garnets were among the most popular gemstones of the period).  The gold on the back of the pendant is from a hammered sheet of gold, not as smooth as one usually finds in portrait miniature frames, but not unusual for cannetille pieces.

The eye is painted on watercolor on ivory.  It has a tiny amount of paint loss at one of the curls (see close-up photo with arrow below) and there is a paint bristle caught under the convex glass (which magnifies the eye).  Additionally, there are about 4 tiny specks of something dark which are much more evident in the photos than in real life.  Remember that your are viewing photos that are bigger than the tiny pendant which measure 1 3/8" x 1 1/2" not including the top loop, 1 5/8" x 1 1/2" if you include the hanging loop.  The pin on back is in good working order.  The pin was likely added a bit later as the pendant was probably intended for the gentleman to wear on his watch chain, secreted away in his watch pocket.  It is hard to accurately date a portrait containing just an eye and a bit of hair.  However, the fact that the lady is wearing her natural hair with curls around the face and her ear exposed indicates the painting would not have been painted much earlier than 1800.  Curls were worn around the face throughout much of the 19th century, but the fabulous cannetille work indicates that the piece was made within the first quarter of the 19th century.  This is a fabulous miniature to start or add to a collection of lover's eyes.  It is a wonderfully wearable piece of Georgian jewelry, although I only wear mine to special occasions so that they are not exposed to the elements very often.

(#5104)     Sold

References:

Boettcher, Graham C., Ph.D., The Look of Love: Eye Miniatures From the Skier Collection, (exhibition catalog), Birmingham Museum of Art, 2012.

Dawes, Ginny Redington & Collings, Olivia, Georgian Jewellry 1714 - 1830, Antique Collectors' Club Ltd., Woodbridge, Suffolk, 2007. 147.

Gordon, Cathy, "Georgian, Victoria other", http://imageevent.com/bluboi/fine

¹ Shushan, Elle, "The Artist's Eye", found in Boettcher at 17-18.  Ms. Shushan credits the quote to Munson, James, Maria Fitzherbert:  The Secret Wife of George IV, Carroll & Graff, New York, 2001. 66.

² Dawes & Collings at 2007. 113-115.

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