The artist Jean-Baptiste Nini is best remembered for his highly distinctive molded terracotta medallions representing profile busts of eminent figures of his time. They included courtiers of Versailles, but also inhabitants of the Chaumont-sur-Loire area where he had set up business. Moïse de Camondo assembled sixteen of these medallions in his Small Study, where they form a striking series of remarkably delicate, lifelike portraits.