The Cadet

Nestling in a velvet- and silk-lined box, this splendid silhouette pendant shows a young officer in a bound pigtail wig wearing a fantail hat with a cockade. It is set in a gold navette-shaped frame with a paste surround and fausse-montre hanger. The later box (which is an excellent fit) is from Charig Jewellers of Bond Street, London.

This is an early unsigned example of a jewellery piece by John Miers who first advertised ‘profile shades in miniature’ in his home town of Leeds in 1781 at a cost of 2s 6d apiece. These were secondary to his main business of preparing and selling paints. But such was the success of his profile painting, that he auctioned off his stock of paints and utensils to become a full-time profilist travelling to major towns and cities to extend his clientele. In 1791 he made the move to central London where he set up what was to become a successful and long-running profile studio on the Strand.