George Washington Miniature Portrait on Ivory After Bone and Stuart. 5½ x 4½" portrait, c. early 1800s, inscribed in a period hand on the verso: "General George Washington born 22d Feb. 1732 died 14 Dec. 1799 / copy of an Enamel painting by Henry Bone after a picture painted in America by G Stuart in 1797 for the Marquis of Lansdowne." Painted is unsigned. Housed in an elaborate, carved, antique gold-painted wooden frame, 13 x 11"; one tiny chip at top of frame needs retouching. Henry Bone was royal enamel painter to George III, IV, William IV, and the Duke of York.
The Lansdowne portrait was one of three painted by Gilbert Stuart of George Washington. The full-length portrait was commissioned by wealthy senator William Bingham of Pennsylvania as a gift for British Prime Minister William Petty FitzMaurice, first Marquess of Lansdowne, who had supported American independence. The original is currently on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution.
Estimated Value $5,000 - 7,000.
The Claude Harkins Collection of Washingtonia
