How could I resist this one, a 19th c. miniature portrait of the rather iconic mistress to King Charles VII of France, Agnès Sorel (1422 –1450; popularly known as Dame de Beauté [Lady of Beauty]), painted here with one breast bared in keeping with several depictions of her done in her day. (My favorite is by Francois Clouet, c. 1450, which I've included in photos, and from which this miniature clearly derives inspiration.) As a side note, as I understand it, the depiction of a woman with one breast bared subsequently became used more broadly to connote "mistress.")
Quite a beauty our Agnès is here I'd say, luminescent and blushing pink, veiled and looking almost chaste but for the loosed ties of her bodice with breast exposed in what I find a wonderfully deadpan manner. The portrait was signed, Doffing, and I believe was painted on bone, with glass over top, which makes photographing it without some glare a bit of a challenge. The back of the frame is covered with printed laid paper, with text in Latin, likely a book page, with the name of the subject written in ink. C. 1830-40s I believe, concurrent to the the circulation of a couple of published lithographs of Sorel in a similar manner.
Framed: 4 3/4" x 4 1/16. Sight: 2 9/16" x 2". Excellent condition, really no issues whatsoever that I see.
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