34mm x 30mm
Gold, glazed enamel paste on foil. Relief portrait bust of George IV (reigned 1820-30) looking right in the manner of James Tassie. Contained within a gilt mount with champfered corners, laurel leaf borders, plain back and brooch fitting and pendant suspension loops.
James Tassie (1735-1799) 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. 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.