A small gold-mounted glass pendant with cristallo-ceramie portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte

circa 1802-03

circa 1802-03
The portrait possibly by Desprez and mounted by William Harris, the bust portrait depicting the Emperor as First Consul, to dexter, inscribed BONAPARTE, on a cream backing, inscribed HARRIS to the interior of the glass, within an oval gold case and suspension loop, the red leather velvet-lined and silk case with paper label on the interior, inscribed Harris Gem and Seal Engraver PALL MALL No.22 4.5cm by 3.6cm

William Harris was a London medal engraver in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Examples of his work have been sold at auction in recent years. Although sulphides or cristallo-ceramie are attributed largely to Apsley Pellatt in England from 1819 and later to the paperweight factories of France, it is believed that Desprez, an artist about whom unfortunately very little is known, had mastered the technique of incrustation during the reign of Napoleon, and did so with a perfection that his contemporaries or his successors seldom achieved. It has been suggested that this pendant relates to the Peace of Amiens in 1802, the portrait depicting Napoleon as First Consul.