Measurements: 28mm x 24mm
A reverse intaglio portrait bust of George III wearing the Windsor uniform and the Garter star. Signed 'TASSIE' to the truncated shoulder. Contained within a gilt mount with plain back and brooch fitting.
The present brooch was created by the Scottish gem engraver and modeller James Tassie (1735-1799) who gained celebrity in late 18th century London for miniature relief portrait busts and producing casts of antique engraved gems using a specially developed enamel paste. As the quality and character of his work became known, he received a commission from the Empress Catherine the Great causing the finest collections of antique gems in Europe to be thrown open to him for purposes of study and reproduction. He exhibited in the Royal Academy from 1769 to 1791.
Read More
In addition to his impressions from antique gems, Tassie executed profile medallion portraits of his contemporaries. His subjects were modelled in wax from the life or from drawings done from the life, and when this was impossible from other authentic sources. They were then cast in white enamel paste and relieved against a background of ground-glass tinted of a subdued color by paper placed behind.