AN IVORY MINIATURE, PIERRE PAUL EMMANUEL DE POMMAYRAC, SIGNED: P DE POMMAYRAC, CIRCA 1860 | An ivory miniature, Pierre Paul Emmanuel de Pommayrac, signed: P de Pommayrac, circa 1860

wearing a blue coat and a lace-edged white chemise, gold frame MN1260

Eugénie, Empress of the French (1826-1920);
Prince Victor Napoléon (1862-1926);
Prince Louis Napoléon (1914-1997)

The miniature: minor water-staining at margin at 8.30 to 9.30 (not visible when held at certain angles), the glass is diseased and should be replaced.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

‘He is a charming young man, full of spirit and energy, speaking English admirably, and the more you see of him the more you will like him. He has many young friends in the Artillery, and so I doubt not with your … kind assistance he will get on well enough’ (The Illustrated London News, June 28, 1879). These were the words of the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief of the British army, when asking the British colonial administrator Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere to take the Prince Imperial with him to the Kingdom of Zulu in 1879. Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, Prince Imperial, by his full title, was born in 1856 in Paris as the only child of Napoléon III and Eugénie de Montijo. Having relocated to England after the dethronement of his father in 1873, the Prince Imperial trained as a soldier. Despite his mother’s reluctance, he was eager to join his comrades as a spectator during the Zulu War, and supposedly took the sword carried by Napoléon I in the battle of Austerlitz in 1804 with him to the war zone in Southern Africa. The news of the Prince Imperial’s sudden death in June 1879, resulting from a skirmish with the Zulus, during which the 23-year old was fatally stabbed by a spear, came as an enormous shock not only for his family but also for those hoping for a restoration of the House of Bonaparte. 

Pierre Paul Emmanuel de Pommayrac, born to French parents in Puerto Rico in 1807, moved to Paris when young. A pupil of the miniature painter Mme de Mirbel, and of Baron Gros, he exhibited at the Salon from 1835 until his death in 1880. Awarded the Legion of Honour in 1852, he was miniature painter to Empress Eugénie.