Oil on copper engraving plate, unsigned, a bust length portrait of a young officer in uniform with epaulettes and medal, the verso with the engraved image Dame et Marchand du Levant (Lady and Merchant of the Levant) engraved by Jacques Philippe Le Bas (French, 1707-1783) after a painting by Joseph Vernet (French, 1714-1789), presented in a later gilt wood frame.

Plate 8 x 6 1/4 in.; Frame dimensions 10 5/8 x 8 7/8 in.

Private Collection, High Point, North Carolina

This copper plate is from a series of 12 plates, engraved after a group known as the Ports de Mer de la France (harbor scenes) by Joseph Vernet, late 18th to early 19th century.

Several scratches to surface; no evidence of retouch visible under UV light; tape and label to verso of copper plate; minor rubbing and flaking to frame.

$500 - 1,000