Round medallion by Thomas COMPIGNÉ, circa 1750 - 1760. "View of the Château de Versailles, taken from the Avenue de Paris". D. 8.5 cm. Wooden frame: D. 11.5 cm. Note: Arriving from Italy probably around 1750, Thomas Compigni took the name Compigné. His shop under the sign of King David, rue Greneta in Paris, specialised in the manufacture and sale of boxes, tric-trac, draughts and chess sets, snuffboxes and other cane handles in blond tortoiseshell inlaid with gold. His paintings are composed on a sheet of stamped pewter applied to a sheet of cardboard or tortoise shell. The pewter is then decorated with gold, silver, gouache and coloured varnishes. These "miniatures", known today as Compigné, were extremely popular in the 1760s. Their quality and the secrecy surrounding them earned him the title of privileged tablemaker to the King under Louis XV and Louis XVI.