Advert Description
Are you interested in this item? This item is up for auction at Catawiki. Please click on "respond to advert" (orange button) to get redirected to the Catawiki website. Catawiki’s goal is to make special objects universally available. Our weekly auctions feature thousands of unusual, rare, and exceptional objects you won’t find in just any store. We offer this quality portrait of a lady very well done. In view of the technique, the style and the clothes, it is a work carried out at the beginning of the 19th century. The woman represented comes from a good family: presence of jewelry, lace and gloves. She holds a handkerchief in her hand, which is not insignificant.
In the 19th century, the handkerchief was an ostentatious mark of wealth, depending on the finesse of its embroidery, the shape of its contours, the quality of its patterns. But there is also a secret love language. When a young girl threw her handkerchief from a window, it was a declaration of love. She could also drop it at a reception and hope that the man she lusts after returns it to express the reciprocity of his love.
Handkerchiefs were such a powerful symbol of fidelity and romance that Shakespeare's play Othello revolved around the incident of a handkerchief. Given to her love Desdemona as a symbol of her love, the mistaken impression that she had given her handkerchief to another man was scandalous enough to drive him to an unhappy rage.
In the context of this work, the handkerchief not only indicates that this lady comes from a wealthy French family, but also that her heart is always to be taken. The handkerchief symbolizes her love, and she hasn't given it to anyone yet.
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The work is in good condition and there are no major flaws that affect the quality of the work. A very slight depression is to be noted at the level of the forehead; barely visible. Slight scratches on the sides but not very visible either.
Fast and careful shipping worldwide. 67554749
