c. 1790 Georgian Portrait Miniature Bracelet

A c. 1790s English Georgian portrait miniature of a lady in white muslin, mounted in a rose gold bracelet setting with bright-cut floral strap enclosures. The portrait can be dated to c.1790s due to the subject’s hair and sartorial styling; all-white muslin ensembles—which often included a ‘fichu’ bodice kerchief and a head wrap—paired with loosely-arranged powdered hair became a widely popular look in British during the closing decade of the 18th century, serving as a transition between the stiff flamboyance of Rococo fashions and the muted naturalism of the Regency period. The gradient blue ground is also a mainstay feature of 1790s miniature portraiture. Developed by leading artists such as Richard Cosway and his rival Andrew Plimer, these backgrounds were meant to place the subject beneath an open sky, replete with clouds and various shades of sky-blue. In contrast to the monochrome dark grounds from decades earlier, these ‘sky’ grounds gave portrait miniature a new sense of broad space, and were fastidiously adopted by most miniature painters in Britain throughout the 1790s. For other 1790s portrait miniatures featuring subjects in white muslin against a ‘sky’ ground, see Victoria & Albert Museum P.5-1914, P.50-1910, P.33-1927, P.5-1941, 70-1884, and P.15-1958.

The present bracelet’s boxed strap enclosures suggest it was originally intended for woven hair. As evidenced by surviving portraits, it was fashionable practice to wear miniatures around the wrist during the 18th century. The straps for these miniatures were rarely made from metal, with the most common materials being ribbon, woven hair, or beaded strands. As shown by two Georgian bracelets in the V&A, strap enclosures for ribbon or beads were made from a single sheet of gold with holes punctured for thread attachment (see V&A P.66-1920); enclosures with a boxed shape allowed more space for thicker woven hair straps to be glued in and secured (see V&A P.169-1922). The present bracelet’s original hair strap has been lost to time. However, my jeweler can custom fit a velvet ribbon strap to your needs.
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