Coloured grounds are very rarely found in connection with English silhouette work. One, in the possession of the author, is of a boy’s head finely painted on ivory; the background is tinted blue, the whole mounted in a chased gold locket of the period, early eighteenth century.
Abroad, especially in Germany, we constantly find coloured backgrounds and coloured cardboard mounts, with or without wreaths or other ornamental frames.
In the catalogue of the Silhouette and Miniature Exhibition held at Brünn from April 22nd to May 20th, 1906, there was much work of the kind:—
The silhouette numbered 67. Head and shoulders of a young man. Silhouette painted on glass on a brown ground. At the back the letters A. J. L.
No. 77. Round lacquer box with head and shoulders of a man in silhouette on a yellow ground, gold glass mount. Owner: R. Blümel, Vienna.
No. 99. Head of an officer, silhouette, painted on glass, blue ground.
No. 106. Lady walking, silhouette on glass, blue ground.
No. 26. Gentleman sitting at a writing-table, painted on glass, yellow silk background. French, Louis XVI.
No. 127. Lady sitting at a table, companion picture.
Other silk-mounted pictures are numbered 154.