Lot 85: MARQUIS P.-F. DE LUBERSAC (FRENCH, FL. C. 1795-1801)

MARQUIS P.-F. DE LUBERSAC (FRENCH, FL. C. 1795-1801)
Madame Elisabeth de France (1764-1794), seated on a damask-upholstered chair, in long-sleeved blue silk dress with white fichu, flowers at corsage, her powdered upswept hair decorated with blue silk ribbon and ostrich plumes
on ivory
2½ in. (64 mm.) diam., gold frame, the reverse engraved 'Portrait de Madame Elizabeth de France Donné par Monsieur Frere du Roi, à Madame la Marquise de Buckingham. Août 1797.'

Charles-Philippe, Comte d'Artois (1757-1836), later King Charles X of France, brother of the present sitter; given to Lady Elizabeth Nugent, Baroness Nugent of Carlanstown, Marchioness of Buckingham (c. 1758-1812) in August 1797.
S. H. V. Hickson Collection; Sotheby's, London, 10 November 1969, lot 6 (as A Lady called Elizabeth of France, artist unidentified).

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.
Madame Elisabeth of France was the youngest sister of King Louis XVI of France. Devoted to her brother, she resisted marriage to a foreign royal in order to remain in France and during the French Revolution she stayed beside the king and queen at the Tuileries Palace in Paris until their execution in 1793. She faced the guillotine a year later. Meanwhile, her brother, Charles-Philippe, Comte d'Artois, fled France, first to Savoy and then to England where he was given refuge in London and Edinburgh and a generous allowance by King George III. He most likely met in London the recipient of the present miniature, Lady Mary Nugent whose home was Buckingham House, 91 Pall Mall, now the Royal Automobile Club. The daughter of Robert Cragges Nugent, 1st Earl Nugent and Elizabeth Drax, she married on 16 April 1775 Sir George Hugent-Temple-Grenville (1753-1813), later 1st Marquis of Buckingham Secretary of State and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.