Medallion Portraits Of A Distinguished Scholar And His Wife

"Monsieur CLAUDE (Antoine), Inventor of Carbon Paper" [France], 1st quarter of the 19th century - First Empire, Brown morocco leather pouch with a supple, long-grain Russian leather cover, gilt border, interior with flaps lined in red velvet, oil pastel medallions on thin ivory plaques, the reverse of which is pasted a piece of recycled paper printed in Gothic script.
This precious pouch contains two medallion portraits of a couple from the Second Empire. Inside the pouch, a handwritten note reads: "Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Claude, Grandfather and Grandmother of my husband Marcel Adam. Monsieur Claude (Antoine) was a distinguished scientist, inventor of carbon paper." Despite this note, we have been unable to identify this couple. The man, with chestnut hair and blue eyes, wears a black frock coat and scarf. The elegantly dressed woman wears an ochre-colored dress with puffed sleeves and a neckline that reveals her shoulders. Her hair is styled in a high chignon held in place by a comb, with ringlets falling at the sides. She wears gold earrings and a six-strand necklace of blue and green pearls or stones (this section is incomplete, and the entire necklace is no longer visible). Her eyes are also blue, and her hair is Venetian blonde.
The medallions are very finely crafted, though damaged and incomplete in places; nevertheless, this does not detract from the distinctive charm of this delicate object.