A good Battersea enamel oval portrait plaque c.1760

A good Battersea enamel oval portrait plaque c.1760, of the Countess of Coventry, Maria Gunning, wearing a yellow patterned dress, her chin resting on one hand, mounted in a metal frame, copied from Jean-Etienne Liotard's 1749 painting of her in Turkish costume, 10.5cm overall.

Maria Gunning as a celebrated beauty of the 18th century, so much so that she was once mobbed in Hyde Park. Against her husband's advice, she wore heavy make up despite her young age, which contributed to her death at the age of 27 from lead and mercury poisoning.