ATTRIBUTED TO JEAN LIMOSIN (ACTIVE CIRCA 1615-1635) FRENCH, LIMOGES, EARLY 17TH CENTURY | OVAL PORTRAIT OF ANNE OF AUSTRIA (1601-1666)

Marczell von Nemes;

his sale, Mensing, Cassirer and Helbing, Munich, 16-19 June 1931, lot 503;

Rudolf Lepke, Berlin, 12 June 1934, lot 84;

acquired by the present owner at a country sale in the 1960s

A near-identical portrait, though octagonal, was sold at Sotheby's Paris as part of the Dormeuil Collection on 19 November 2007 (lot 26) with an attribution to Jean Limosin. Another was sold last year in these rooms on 3 December 2019, lot 26 (£41,250 aggregate). The attribution is based on a comparison with an octagonal portrait of the young Louis XIII in the Louvre (inv. no. OA 11063), which is given to Limosin by Baratte (op. cit.) and allows for an identification of the present sitter as Louis' young wife, Anne of Austria. The present enamel and the Louvre piece once formed a pair; both were formerly in the collection of Marczell von Nemes and sold in his 1931 sale as separate lots. It is likely that the two models were created as pendants to commemorate the couple's 1615 wedding. The present enamel and the Louis XIII in the Louvre are distinguished by their similarly designed locket pendant frames.

RELATED LITERATURE

S. Baratte, Les Emaux peints de Limoges, cat. Musée du Louvre, Paris, 2000, p. 379