Lot 188: Anna Aleksandrovna Obol'ianinova, née Ermolaeva (1754-1822), in white dress, red belt, gold necklaces, a red stole over her shoulders, a red ribbon in upswept hair, wearing the badge of the Imperial Russian order of St. Catherine at her left

CHARLES-JOSEPH DE LA CELLE, CHEVALIER DE CHÂTEAUBOURG (FRENCH, 1758-1837)
Anna Aleksandrovna Obol'ianinova, née Ermolaeva (1754-1822), in white dress, red belt, gold necklaces, a red stole over her shoulders, a red ribbon in upswept hair, wearing the badge of the Imperial Russian order of St. Catherine at her left breast; sky and tree background
signed 'Le Ch[...]' (lower right)
oval, 2 11/16 in. (67 mm.) high, gilt-metal mount

Married first Ia. I. Ordyn-Nashchokin, and secondly, in 1795, P. Kh. Obol'ianinov, general procurator under Emperor Paul. Alexandrine Miller ('Un miniaturiste français en Russie: De Châteaubourg', in La Revue de l'art , LXVII, 1934, pp. 100 and 106 no. 12) mentions the portrait of Obol'ianinova of 1801 in Châteaubourg's sketchbook and an unlocated unsigned finished miniature. Several versions, none of which have hitherto been attributed to Châteaubourg, are known; one, possibly the present piece, was in the Paul Davidson Collection, Berlin, sold Max Perl, Berlin, 27 November 1924, lot 2 (described as portrait of Princess Bariatinsky). Another one is in the Armoury of the Moscow Kremlin, illustrated on the front cover page and as no. 10 of L. M. Frolova, The Armoury in the Moscow Kremlin. Portrait Miniatures of the 18th and 19th centuries , Moscow, 1985. A version, formerly at Gatchina Palace, is illustrated in Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov, Russkie portrety [...] , St. Petersburg, 1905-1909, I, no. 169. A later copy on card is in the Tret'iakov Gallery collection, illustrated in L. I. Pevsner/I. M. Sacharova, Gosudarstvennaia Tret'iakovskaia Galereia. Portretnaia miniatiura XVIII - natsala XX veka , Moscow, 1997, p. 213, no. 320.