Round miniature painted on ivory, unsigned, representing two young women in an interior writing and sewing, inlaid in the lid of a round brown tortoiseshell box, mounted in or 750 thousandths. Traces of Paris hallmarks from the 18th century, probably from the 1780s.

D: 7.3 cm - Box: H: 2.7 - D: 8.3 cm

Gross weight: 111.5 g.

This scene comes from an oil on canvas preserved in a private collection, identified as representing the daughters of the Duke of Noailles. The painting resting on the mantelpiece of this boudoir is a reduced-size version of the famous “Saint Michael slaying the demon”, produced by Raphael in 1518, commissioned by Pope Leo X for a gift to Francis I. His presence is a probable allusion to the rank of knight of the Order of Saint-Michel which the Duke of Noailles had received in 1724.

Adrien Maurice de Noailles, Count of Ayen, 3rd Duke of Noailles (1708), Marquis de Montclar, Count of La Motte-Tilly and of Nogent-le-Roi, Viscount of Carlux, born September 22, 1678 and died June 24 1766, raised to the dignity of Marshal of France in 1734. He had with his wife Françoise Charlotte d'Aubigné (1684-1739), niece and heiress of Mme de Maintenon, in particular four daughters, born in 1704, 1706, 1710 and 1719, which it is difficult to identify here with certainty.