MARIE AMELIE, QUEEN OF THE FRENCH Born in Italy in 1782 as Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Her father was King Ferdinand IV & III of Naples and Sicily (later Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies). Her mother was Ferdinand?s wife Maria Carolina of Austria, an Austrian archduchess and daughter of Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor and Empress Maria Theresa of Austria. Maria Carolina was a niece of the famous French queen Marie Antionette. Maria Amalia?s parents had a total of nine children, of which Maria Amalia was the seventh. After the French Revolution the Italian Royal family fled to the Kingdom of Sicily and spent the next few years jumping from various royal dwellings to escape turbulent times in Italy. While in flight, she encountered her future husband, Louis Philippe d?Orleans, also forced from his home in France due to political complications of the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon. The two were married in 1809, three years after they met in Italy whereupon Marie-Amelie became the Duchess of Orléans. Unfortunately for Marlie-Amelie, she went to France with her new husband in 1814, where she attempted to make a home with her growing family, but with Napoleon?s brief return, she was forced to flee yet again. During the Orléans? time in France prior to Louis-Philippe?s coronation, the family lived in the Palais-Royal, despite the money worries of the family, in the end, the house was returned to its original splendor at cost to the couple of eleven million francs. In 1830, following the July Revolution Louis Philippe became King of France with Maria Amalia as his Consort. After Louis Philippe was deposed in the revolution of 1848 the Royal family fled to England. Louis Philippe died two years later. After the death of her husband, Maria Amalia continued to live in England where she was well-known to Queen Victoria, she died at Claremont in 1866. This impressive gold and enamel presse-papier is typical of the objet de luxe favoured by Queen Marie Amelie and the pieces she ordered from the goldsmiths and porcelain factories often included views of her favourite places and residences. It bears striking similarities to a Geneva gold and enamel singing bird box sold by Antiquorum, Geneva, October 11th, 2003, lot 90 and is almost certainly from the same workshop. The enamel views decorating the sides of the present presse-papier are Italian in flavour and would have been commissioned by the Queen to remind her of her native Italy. The watch contained within the hinged compartment has been specially constructed for this piece with an oval movement to fit the housing precisely and with a digital hour and minute display which was a novel idea at the time. Unusually this watcåh also has the added feature of a calendar for the date and days of the week, the dials all set within a fine gold and enamel plate. The portrait miniature by Guglielmo Faija is derived from Winterhalter?s celebrated portrait of Marie Amelie of 1842 (now at the Chateau of Versailles). Faija was a talented miniaturist who often produced copies in miniature of existing paintings, he was a favourite artist of Queen Victoria for whom he painted several miniatures still to be found in the British Royal Collection. A very similar miniature of Queen Marie Amelie probably by Faija is in the Musée Condé at Chantilly.