140 A rare reverse glass painting Late 18th century Total dimensions: 15 x 20 in, 38.1 x 50.8 cm of a European lady, leaning against red cloth beside a large urn, with a lake and trees in the background. The lady is dressed in a long white dress, tied with a blue sash, and blue slippers; she wears a necklace and earrings. Her hair is tied in an elaborate chignon and her face is delicately painted. A white dove perches on the terracotta urn. In a contemporary carved gilt-wood frame.

It is unusual to find a painting of a woman in this pose that is more reminiscent of Grand Tour paintings of English gentlemen. A glass painting, possibly depicting the same lady in a similar pose and setting, is illustrated in Notes for Collectors. No. 1: Chinese Glass Pictures and Mirror Pictures, pl. C, where the subject is identified as Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1763). Lady Mary was daughter of the fifth Earl and first Duke of Kingston and she married Edward Wortley Montagu who was ambassador to Constantinople in 1716. She was a celebrated woman of letters.