Portrait Miniatures

Bonhams is world renowned for its strength in this particular field with an outstanding track record of selling highly important single-owner collections. The Albion Collection sold by Bonhams in April 2004, remains to this day, the highest grossing auction of portrait miniatures from a single-owner collection, achieving a total of just over £1.5million.

The department handles British, European and American portrait miniatures on copper, vellum and ivory in addition to portraits on paper, silhouettes and wax profiles, spanning the 16th – 20th centuries.

Works by masters of the genre, such as Bone, Cooper, Cosway, Engleheart, Hilliard, Oliver, Ross, Smart and Stroely are routinely offered in the bi-annual Fine Portrait Miniatures auctions at Bonhams, Knightsbridge. Further miniatures and silhouettes are also featured in the quarterly fine sales at Bonhams, Oxford.