Decorative ornament

portrait painted of a man from the 19th century embedded in a large mother-of-pearl shell (type of nautilus or large marine bivalve shell).
Characteristics of the object
• Support: A large pearl shell or mother-of-pearl whose inner surface has been polished to receive the portrait.
• Technique: A painted miniature (probably in oil or gouache) depicting a moustached and bearded man in bourgeois attire (vest and frock coat), typical of 19th-century fashion (Louis-Philippe era or Second Empire).
• Genre: A curiosity object, folk art, or marine art (often made by sailors or in the colonial penal colonies of the time).