Small Hand Painted Porcelain Portrait

i picked this up and have conducted some preliminary research but would appreciate your insight in this piece. The frame is tagged with the plate for F.H. Bresler Co. http://www.breslergallery.com/about.html

As you can see, the piece is damaged and the frame is very tightly sealed. Because of this, I am reluctant to open the frame case and risk further displacement. Any thought on this piece?

Dan

Sorry about the redundant posting but it seems like a better fit here.

 

No dots under a loupe, I presume? It might still be silk screened.

 

No, not a silk screen

 

Are you looking to keep or re-sell?? If keeping, I would probably take it to a restorer......they can do amazing things.....so that you'd never see it was damaged! It all depends on what you want to invest............

 

looking to keep but woild like to better understand value prior to making that investment

 

What size is the frame that the gentleman is in.......not the outer frame......ALSO, a potential suggestion....and I have used them on occasion, individually.....I think you can get email addresses.....Antiques Roadshow....am giving you the listing of appraisers.....you can fill in the category and state (since I don't know where you are), but I have (so far) had good luck with them.....they are only a GUIDELINE!!!!!
Good Luck!!!

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/appraisers/

 

Thank you. The inner matting is roughly 2.25" x 2.75". I have purchased from about a dozen of the roadshow auction houses and have consigned with four. I was hoping to get a high level guess from some of the experts here. Is it at least worth a few hundred? I am sure that I paid less than $100 about six or seven years ago.

 

Did you try contacting the current owners of the info@BresslerGallery.com site? They might be able to offer some input as well!!! Is yours on porcelain? Do you think it's oil or water color....I saw you said it is not a silkscreen.....the crack makes me think porcelain....the image itself seems to be nicely done.....prices vary wide and far....which you can check with a Google search for "Portraiture Miniatures and their values".....don't think I can be of much more help......

 

One question I have is whether the Bresler Co. framed an older piece. The style of what the man is wearing, and the mat, strongly resemble early-mid 19th century (Maybe 1840s-1850s?) items. Since Bresler was founded in 1882 I see a mismatch.

 

Here is a F.H. Bresler framed "painted miniature or a very very fine lithograph printing." The outside frame looks similar to this one with a similar metal tag. The seller peeked behind the backing:
"..peek inside lifting off gently the black backing fabric, we see handwriting on the back of the art identifying the artist, the subject and the gallery in which the original is located."

The seller like you is reluctant to open the frame:
"don't like to disturb miniatures as they can be easily damaged and there is also the risk of dirt or foreign objects getting inside."

If there is a peek hole in the back of yours you might try to see if there is any writing inside to identify it. The Bresler gallery was noted for its quality items.
https://www.rubylane.com/item/350519-RA-440/Framed-Miniature-Virgin-Mary-Madonna-Child

--- Susan

 

Nice -- that is a takeoff on the head of the Madonna from a painting by Filippo Lippi. The original painting is in the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence (Firenze), Italy.
http://www.uffizi.org/artworks/madonna-with-child-and-two-angels-by-filippo-lippi/

I have a small box with a print of a detail from that painting on it.

 

Great idea. I will not have access to the piece again until Wednesday but appreciate this wisdom!