French d'Ore Bronze Framed Miniature Painting of Chess Players

Miniature painting signed "Laure Levy" of two gentlemen playing chess, signed lower right, signed verso, in a gilt metal frame, overall 9 ⅝" x 9 ½". After the painting "The Chess Players" by Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier, ca. 1853.
Provenance: old prominent private collections, The Glass and The West Families (both since second half of 18th c.), Pittsburgh, PA, by descent in the families to the current owner.

The Glass and The West families were Pioneer Farming Families (the Glass family owned and farmed a large tract where currently Glass Run Road and Streets Run Road intersect; the West family was also a pioneer farm family that owned a significant tract located in Homestead near West Street and West Run Road.
Mary Glass West (1813 – 1870) married Sammuel Hay West (1799 – 1873) in 1832. The West family was also a pioneer farm family that owned a significant tract located in Homestead near West Street and West Run Road.
Sammuel Hay West was the son of Joseph and Mary West and Grandson of Colonel Alexander Lowry. Colonel Lowry was a guide to General Forbes on his march to Fort Duquesne and later became the Commander of the Lancaster Militia in the Battle of Brandywine.
The Glass and West family farms remained in operation until 1871 when the family began to sell property to developers and workers in the emerging steel industry.

Condition: Some undulation to painting, some soils to frame, overall good.