Antique, possibly Old Master era (pre-1825) miniature painting of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in Turkish dress.  Lady Montagu was a famous woman of letters and her father was the Duke of Kington.  As the wife of the British Ambassador to Turkey, she lived in Constantinople and was closely associated with the Ottoman Empire.

The painter of this piece is George Perfect Harding (British, 1779-1853).  This is his version of a miniature once owned by the Stanhope family, specifically the Earl of Harrington by decent from Lady Caroline Stanhope, and the original’s whereabouts is unknown to me.

Harding was a scholar of old miniatures, so he’s considered a pioneer in documenting them.  In the National Portrait Gallery (London), they have 172 of his versions of the miniatures!  People like them at auction too.  The record is for his take on a James I miniature.

This is a fun painting to research because once you look into it, the so called ‘original’ of this image was basically a copy of a painting of sitter Laura Tarsi, a Greek gal living in Turkey, as painted by Swiss artist in Turkey, Jean-Etienne Liotard (1702 - 1789).  His painting became popular, everyone wanted one done with that ‘look’, and so it was adapted by artists for paying customers.  Their face was put on the image with the Islamic costume and pose.

Otherwise, I can tell you more about auction records, to gauge value.  An anonymous copy of this image fetched 4K USD (Sale 2362, Lot 353) and another unsigned one that was actually probably of the Greek gal fetched 658K USD.  Both were sold by Christie’s, one as ‘after Caroline Stanhope’ and the much-pricier one (pictured on Askart) as ‘confirmed attribution’ to Liotard.

Watercolor on paper with gold and painted border.

Signed “G.P. Harding, fecit” in gold lower left.

Titled in gold across bottom border, “Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.”

Framed in gilded and black ebonized frame -- under glass.

Old writing on back, possibly by the artist, documents the original’s provenance as Caroline Stanhope.  Writing in blue seems added and I can’t confirm the info.  Brief Montagu bio pasted at top verso.

Painting sight size (not counting the black border with writing) is 6 1/8 x 5 1/8 inches.

With border, it’s about 8 x 6 7/8 inches; 8 5/8 x 7 5/8 inches overall with frame.

Painting in as-found, very good condition.

Imperfect frame with corners separating, etc.  

Fresh from an estate, NYC brownstone (wealthy old family) but I’m unable to provide their name. Call it a “private collection”.