Ribbon Choker

During the late eighteenth century, miniature painting was a lucrative business so it’s not surprising that bitter rivalries arose between competing artists. Such must have been the case when, in October 1779, Charles Robertson resorted to advertising in Saunders News-Letter in Dublin to reassure his friends and the public that, despite “some evil-minded persons” having reported “with an intention to injure” that he was dead, he was indeed “living and in good health”, ready and willing to take on commissions.

One of those commissions dating from the 1790s was this small portrait of an unknown lady with blue eyes and powdered hair arranged in the three-ringlet style. The modesty fill-in to her white dress has a stand-up lace collar secured with a ribbon bow, her only accessory being a narrow black ribbon choker necklace tied under her curls at the back.

In fine condition, the miniature resides in the original gold bracelet-style frame with a seed pearl surround.

The son of a Dublin jeweller, Charles Robertson (1760-1821) was trained from an early age to create hair designs, possibly for portrait miniatures painted by his elder brother Walter. Clearly a precocious child, he was only fifteen when he exhibited his first miniature painting. Apart from a few years spent in London, Robertson worked in the city of his birth where he also organised an annual fine art exhibition.

Ivory Exemption Ref.: B83BSB6Q