**** Portien

With Arthur Tooth & Sons, London (according to an old label on the reverse);
With Acquavella Galleries, Inc., New York (according to an old label on the reverse).

A pair, both relined. Paintings are presentable and may be hung in their present state. Overall painting is in very good condition and there is a nice retention of paint surface. The Dance: Ultraviolet reveals a tiny amount of retouching, possibly to repair an old puncture, in the cap of the man at far right. Blind Man's Bluff: Ultraviolet reveals tiny retouches in the sky which are mostly confined to the upper edge. There is a tiny line of retouching in the rock at left which may have been made to repair an old scratch. In a pair of elaborately carved and giltwood frames with a few nicks to the gilding.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The present pair of paintings by Portien are replicas of two compositions by Jean-Baptiste Pater, The Dance and Blind Man's Bluff, now in the Wallace Collection, London (P397 and P400).  Those two paintings, along with A Concert and The Swing, also both in the Wallace Collection (P383 and P397), originally formed a set of four paintings, which was sent to the collection of the Président de Ségur in 1739.  In that same year, Filleoul made engravings of these compositions titled, The Little Pleasures of Youth, each of which was accompanied by a poem by Charles Moraine illuminating the amourous content of the picture. 

The present pair, one of which is signed and dated 1738, were painted before the original set went to the Président de Ségur and before Filleoul made his engravings, which suggests that Portien painted these works from Pater's original. 

Although very little is known about Portien, documents show that he was agrée (approved) at the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in Paris as a painter of fêtes galantes, and that in January of 1748, for the apartment of the duchesse de Villars at Versailles, he painted a portrait of Queen Marie Leszcynska, as a "religious penitent."