Lot 94: Pierre Etienne Perlet (Swiss, b.1754)

King Henry IV of France (1553-1610), profile to the right, wearing laurel wreath in his hair and ceremonial robes
enamel, signed on the reverse Perlet p, gilt-mount

oval, 34mm. (1 5/16in.) high

Henry was King of France 1589-1610, the first Bourbon King, he restored stability after the religious wars of the 16th century. Henry (a Huguenot), married in 1572, Margaret of Valois, sister of the monarch, Charles IX. The following day saw the massacre of thousands of Huguenots (the St. Bartholomew's Day, Massacre). Henry saved his own life by converting to Catholicism, but he remained a prisoner until 1576. In 1595 the Pope, granted Henry absolution as long as he agreed to raise his heir, Louis XIII, as a Catholic.