PIAT JOSEPH SAUVAGE (FRENCH, 1744-1818): PORTRAIT MINIATURE OF KING LOUIS XVI AND QUEEN MARIE ANTOINETTE OF FRANCE

Footnotes

Please note, the United States Government has banned the import of ivory into the USA. The item within this lot containing ivory has been registered in accordance with the Ivory Act (Section 10). Ref. JZJ9DHHY.

Provenance:
Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine, Chevalier de Lamarck (1744-1829)
D. S. Lavender (Antiques) Ltd, 26 Conduit Street, London

A Private Collection of Jewels and Portrait Miniatures of Bourbon Interest

Lots 1 - 16 form part of a private collection of jewels, portrait miniatures and objects de vertu, predominantly relating to the Bourbon dynasty and dating from the 17th century onwards. Bourbon monarchs united France and part of the kingdom of Navarre in 1589, ruling both until the French Revolution of 1792. Restored briefly in 1814 and finally in 1815 after the fall of the First French Empire, the senior line of the Bourbons was overthrown again in the July Revolution of 1830. A cadet Bourbon branch, the House of Orléans, then ruled for 18 years (1830–1848), until it too was deposed.

By family repute, this portrait miniature was given by King Louis XVI to Jean Baptiste Pierre Antoine, Chevalier de Lamarck, an officer in the regiment of Beaujolais who abandoned his military career in favour of his passion for natural science. Lamarck's publications as a botanist were so impressive that he was admitted to the Academie des Sciences and later became a professor of zoology in 1794. He was later awarded the Order of the Légion d'Honneur.