A striking mid-eighteenth-century portrait miniature of a lady, attributed to Gervase Spencer by a leading specialist in portrait miniatures. The sitter is beautifully presented against a brilliant blue ground, her pale, softly modelled face framed by an elaborate white cap tied beneath her chin with a mustard-yellow ribbon. The combination of intense blue, crisp white and yellow gives this tiny portrait extraordinary presence. The attribution is strongly supported by comparison with documented works by Spencer. Particularly telling is a signed and dated 1751 portrait sold at Christie's, which uses the same distinctive brilliant blue ground, setting the sitter's delicately modelled complexion against finely painted white costume details. The similarities in palette, facial treatment and handling are striking. A further comparison can be made with a Portrait of a Lady, circa 1750, sold at Sotheby's, in which Spencer again combines luminous pale flesh, brilliant blue and exquisitely described white lace. Together these portraits demonstrate a visual vocabulary highly characteristic of Spencer's female miniatures.    Particularly compelling here is the sitter herself. Her expression is reserved and direct, giving her an air of quiet confidence and self-possession.     Gervase Spencer was one of the most accomplished portrait miniaturists working in Britain in the mid-eighteenth century. His career was remarkable: he began life as a servant before establishing himself as a fashionable painter of miniatures, working in different medioums. He belongs to the generation that helped transform the miniature from a courtly art into a much wider and increasingly fashionable form of personal portraiture. The miniature is housed in a later silver filigree pendant frame, richly worked with scrolling wirework and applied flowerheads. A beautiful and highly characteristic example of the work associated with Gervase Spencer, supported both by specialist attribution and close comparison with documented works by the artist. Size 5cms high w/out frame 3.6width w/out frame