A Gentleman

Sometimes the casework for a miniature tells more about the sitter than the portrait. Here, a conservative looking gentleman has chosen a fancy case style known as fausse-montre (false watch). In the late eighteenth century, it was popular to wear two pocket watches suspended at the waist, one real and the other a fausse-montre, usually made to match, that often contained a portrait miniature. In contrast to the simple portrait, the reverse has a cobalt glass border with bright-cut gold metal bezels surrounding a bow of hair tied with a narrow gold “ribbon” mounted on ivory. This design was likely a pattern copied from one of the manuals used by hair workers and jewelers, since it has also been found on other miniature cases.