Jean Petitot's career as an enamellist spanned seven decades of the seventeenth-century and took him from his birthplace in Geneva to the courts of Charles I in London and of Louis XIV in Paris. He is widely regarded as the most important enamellist of his period on account of the incomparable quality and prolific nature of his work. Petitot achieved notable success at the French court where he had sought refuge after the outbreak of the Civil War in England in 1643 or 1644. He had first developed his skills in enamelling at the court of Charles I in 1637 and the highly accomplished portraits which produced, with their rich colouring, and smoothly blended brushstrokes, were soon much in demand at the French court where he was swiftly appointed Court Painter in Enamel to Louis XIV. He received extensive patronage from the king and his circle at court until the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes (1685) when, as a Protestant, he was forced to return to Geneva. Suggested identities for the sitter have included Louis XIV and Jean Baptiste Colbert (1619-83), but neither appear to be correct. The sitter remains unknown, but the enamel can be dated from the costume to c. 1660.