Silhouette Pendant

This tiny silhouette shows an older gentleman wearing a ‘physical’ wig, a style of wig much favoured by learned professionals, especially doctors. It is painted on an ivory base in sepia with costume detailing outlined in deep black.

The profile is signed ‘field’ under the baseline and is housed in a later gold pendant frame with a hanging ring.

John Field worked alongside John Miers in his studio on The Strand. Theirs was a partnership and friendship of longstanding that continued until Miers died in 1821. The business was then willed jointly to Field and Miers’s son, William, but the dynamics had clearly been altered too much as within a few years the business filed for bankruptcy. Field continued to paint profiles during the 1830s but from a studio that he now shared with his own son.

Ivory Registration: 54HKT5G8