Part III - PORTRAIT MINIATURE BUYING GUIDE

This comprehensive tutorial was generously contributed by my good friend Stefanie Deutsch, who has been collect- ing antique miniatures for more than ten years, and is currently working on a book on the subject. She is also the author of two books on vintage Barbie dolls: "Barbie, The First 30 Years" (published by Collector Books, the 3rd edition just printed) and "Barbie" (published in the German Battenberg Verlag).

How to Tell "Decorative Miniatures" from "Real Miniatures"
While the trained eye will almost always easily spot a copy, there are a few guidelines anyone can follow that will help to separate the wheat from the chaff:

QUANTITY: If you scan the ebay listings for miniatures, you'll find the same ladies pictured again and again. You may even recognize them as copies of large oil paintings by famous artists. Many of the subjects wear big hats, or have flowers in their powdered hair. Other giveaways are their facial features, which were painted to suit the ideal of beauty at the time. For instance, "18th century" ladies may have late 19th century tiny little pouty "kissing mouths."

THE FRAME: Miniatures in piano key frames are a telltale sign of a mass-produced item (looking at tens of thousands of miniatures throughout the years, I have found only one real miniature that was later put into one of these frames). As a matter of fact, one can say that the more decorative the frame, the greater the chance that the miniature is not real. Old pieces were framed mostly in simple metal or wood frames. Most medium-quality early 19th century miniatures (the heyday of this art form), were presented in simple black rectangular frames with metal "acorn" hangers. Some copies of miniatures in these type of frames were (and still are) made to deceive, but those are rare.

Stay tuned for Part IV of PORTRAIT MINIATURE BUYING GUIDE ... to be posted tomorrow.

Interested in buying or selling miniature portraits? You can contact Stefanie directly at: sdeutsch@shaw.ca

Today's WORD-A-DAY: BOULLE

BOULLE is a type of decorative inlay named after 17th century French cabinet maker, Andre-Charles Boulle. Classical Boulle marquetry most often used a tortoiseshell base topped with intricate, swirling chased brass inlays. Other materials, such as pewter, ivory or mother of pearl, were also used.

Part II - PORTRAIT MINIATURE BUYING GUIDE

This comprehensive tutorial was generously contributed by my good friend Stefanie Deutsch, who has been collect- ing antique miniatures for more than ten years, and is currently working on a book on the subject. She is also the author of two books on vintage Barbie dolls: "Barbie, The First 30 Years" (published by Collector Books, the 3rd edition just printed) and "Barbie" (published in the German Battenberg Verlag).


What is a Miniature Portrait?
Nearly all miniature portraits depict a sitter's head and shoulders in an area not exceeding five inches. They were done from the early 1700's mostly in watercolor on ivory wafers, and from the late 19th century, often on a substitute called "ivorine."
The earliest miniatures date from the mid 1600's and were painted on either copper or on the back of playing cards, and a little later on vellum (a parchment made from calf skin). Miniatures in enamel (mostly 18th century pieces) will occasionally (though rarely) come up for sale. Porcelain or marble were almost never used for real miniatures. Miniatures also appear on paper, but most watercolor portraits of this genre will show the full body of the sitter, and are not considered to be true miniatures. Neither are paintings on canvas or wood, or, for that matter, silhouettes.
Most early miniatures are oval in shape. However, from the mid 1800's on, when they had to compete with early photographic images, they were often made in a rectangular format, in order to appear more like oil paintings and/or photos. Round miniatures point to a French origin. Size-wise, early miniatures from the 1700's tend to be smaller than later ones, and were often worn as jewelry. Later miniatures were intended for hanging on a wall, or were framed with "easel" backs for displaying on a table or in a cabinet.
As the art of miniature painting waned in the early 20th century, many of these pieces were being produced with a photographic base, and it is sometimes difficult to draw the line between a portrait miniature with a light photographic base and an over-painted photo.

Stay tuned for Part III of PORTRAIT MINIATURE BUYING GUIDE ... to be posted tomorrow.

Interested in buying or selling miniature portraits? You can contact Stefanie directly at: sdeutsch@shaw.ca

Today's WORD-A-DAY: PATCH BOX

PATCH BOXES were small boxes used mostly to hold "patches" (what we call a "beauty spot" today) which women (as well as men, oftentimes) would apply to their face, to enhance their looks. In high fashion in the 18th century, patch boxes were a "must have" for the upper class ladies who would place patches (often in the form of stars different shapes) on different parts of their face to signal messages to lovers. I have read that women also used them to cover "pock" marks on their faces. Most patch boxes had small mirrors inside the lids, and were often made in interesting shapes, and almost always beautifully decorated. Pictured above is an 18th c. enameled patchbox in the shape of a tricorne hat.

PORTRAIT MINIATURE BUYING GUIDE - A Tutorial in 5 Installments

This comprehensive tutorial was generously contributed by my good friend Stefanie Deutsch, who has been collecting antique miniatures for more than ten years, and is currently working on a book about portrait miniatures. She is also the author of two books on vintage Barbie dolls: "Barbie, The First 30 Years" (published by Collector Books, the third edition just came out) and "Barbie" (published in the German Battenberg Verlag).

PART I
There are basically two types of portrait miniature buyers: people who buy for decorative value, and serious collectors (and, of course, dealers who cater to both types of buyers).

If you are looking for something pretty, like a hand-painted miniature of a lovely, regal lady dressed in the style of the 18th century, you can find an extensive offering on ebay at any given time. Over 80% of all miniatures offered - either on-line or at shows, and even in antique shops - are what are known in the trade as "Decorative Miniatures."

By and large, decorative miniatures are mass-produced copies of (or in the style of) famous paintings which hang in museums, and were mostly produced in Germany from the early 1900's up to the second World War. Often, sellers offer these as original portraits because they don't know better. These attractive items, while now becoming antiques in their own right, were not made to deceive the public, but rather to satisfy a growing market demand for small, affordable pieces of decorative art.
Produced in studios mainly in Germany, France and Italy, they were popular with the European middle class, and with the flourishing tourist trade in Europe (who bought them as souvenirs). Most often, the miniatures came in frames fashioned out of old piano keys, and sometimes in ornate brass fames. Nearly all of these miniatures depict either beautiful young ladies, famous composers, historical figures (Napoleon, Josephine, etc.), or religious subjects (saints). Many of these are "signed" with French-sounding names. The quality of these paintings varies greatly. While some are very well painted, others are crudely over-painted on a photographic base. Serious collectors of miniatures avoid these decorative pieces, and will only look for the "real thing": a unique painting of an actual sitter, made by a real artist.

Stay tuned for Part II of PORTRAIT MINIATURE BUYING GUIDE ... to be posted tomorrow.

Today's WORD-A-DAY: MICROMOSAICS

Micromosaics (or micro mosaics) is mosaic work that uses extremely small mosaic pieces of glass (tesserae) to create small images which are meticulously fitted, like an intricate puzzle, into carved-out hardstone. Although mosaic work originated in Ancient Rome, it was only in Byzantine art that quality micro-mosaics were made using tiny tessarae - mostly in the form of religious icons. From the Renaissance on, they were made in Italy, and achieved the height of their popularity in the mid 19th century as popular gift items purchased by visitors on the Grand Tour. Micromosaic scenes ranged from landscapes and architecture of Rome to insects and animals. More modern micro mosaics (not so "micro") use larger tessarae, and usually depict flowers and decorative layouts.

Today's WORD-A-DAY: NODDERS

NODDERS are figures whose heads (and sometimes hands ... and even tongues) are independently moving parts which are attached to wires and weights, so that they "bobble" or "nod" any time the figure is moved. Originally made from porcelain and bisque, they first appeared in Europe and China as far back as the 18th century. Today's nodders or "bobble heads" are made of plastic or papier mache and often represent cartoon characters or popular sports figures.