The Beaded Bandeau

Isabella Beetham began cutting silhouettes out of necessity to support her young family. She was fortunate to be given painting lessons during the early 1780s from John Smart, the acclaimed miniaturist, her technique noticeably improving thereafter. Her husband, meantime, was busy dabbling in all sorts from acting on stage to building a new-fangled washing machine.

This fine example of Mrs Beetham’s work shows a young lady wearing a round gown fastened on the bodice with a ribbon bow. She has a triple strand beaded necklace and drop earrings. Her curled hair is secured with a bandeau edged in beads, most likely pearls.

The silhouette is reverse painted on convex glass. The details of her jewellery and bandeau have been achieved by cleverly scratching out the paint with a needle.

The silhouette is set within an attractive verre églomisé border in a gold-plated frame, the reverse glazed to show a two-toned spray of hair with gold wire and seed pearls laid on gold foiled opalescent glass.

When viewed in a raking light, the silhouette has a small area of delamination to the face but this does not detract from the overall charm of the piece. There are a couple of short scratches to the front glass and some loose gold wires to the hairwork.