A rare French gold and enamel ruby-set miniature frame, mid 17th century

formed as a wreath of sixteen fully-modeled gold flowerheads in naturalistic colors, with stamens and petals of opaque white enamel and translucent colored enamel, each centered by a ruby, with an inner border of forget-me-nots and other smaller flowers with opaque enamel petals and ruby centers, the backs counter-enameled in white, green, blue and yellow

J. Kugel, Paris

This piece shows the high levels of enamelling achieved in the mid 17th century, with the floral motifs derived from the engraved works of Jacques Vauquer and Gilles Légaré.  Similar three-dimensional, openwork multicolored floral enameling appears on a watch by Pierre de Baufre, Paris, c. 1650, in the Musée National de la Renaissance, Ecouen (see Un Temps d'Exubérance: Les arts décoratifs sous Louis XIII et Anne d'Autriche, no. 191).   Related floral-enameled frames for miniatures and cameos, described as "in the style of GIlles Légaré", are illustrated by Michèle Bimbenet-Privat, Les Orfèvres et l'Orfèvrerie de Paris au XVIIe siècle, nos. 175-77, pp. 474-479.