~ Delacroix Painted Gilt Steel Ladies Notebook c1841 ~
This is a delightful gilded steel ladies notebook decorated with a miniature oil painting by the French painter Eugene Delacroix.
The notebook is leather bound with steel plates to the front and back, each etched with foliate and bird decoration and inlaid with gilt.
To the front is a miniature oil painting of a columned Roman building, with contemporary people and carriages in the foreground. This is framed with a raised gilt border and has a glazed front.
The painting is not signed but due to the high quality of the painting we believe this to be a Delacroix piece, as we know he did similar work in this field around this time.
The notebook has a silk interior with plain white paper pages and a folded pull-out calendar.
Although we do not know the exact year the piece was made we can date it to around 1841 as there is a couple of original dated notes written on one of the pages with the dates ‘1841’ and ‘1851’ there is also a note reading ‘A present to Emily Seale from her sister Ely’.
~ Dimensions ~
The notebook measures 6cm (2 ⅓ inches) by 9.5cm (3 ¾ inches) and has a depth of 1cm.
It weighs 70g.
~ Condition ~
The steel case has some marks and a little wear and has lost a good deal of its gilt inlay but has no major damage. The leather and silk have general age wear. The pages are in good condition.