This item is a beautiful and softly romantic hand-colored French postcard (no.2236) featuring a striking portrait of a young woman in an elegant wide-brimmed hat and flowing dress, delicately enhanced with pink tinting. The subtle coloring highlights the fabric and rose. This postcard was issued by the famous Paris studio of Reutlinger, one of the most important photographic publishers of the Belle Époque era. Founded by Leopold-Émile Reutlinger, the studio became renowned for its glamorous portrait photography of actresses, models, and fashionable women. Reutlinger images were widely distributed as postcards throughout Europe. The caption at the bottom of the card reads “La cruche cassée,” which is French and translates to “The Broken Pitcher” (or “The Broken Vessel”). The phrase carries artistic and symbolic meaning, often associated with themes of innocence, fragility, or lost virtue, and was a popular motif in European art and literature. Based on the style, format, and publisher, this postcard can be confidently dated to approximately circa 1905–1910, during the height of the golden age of postcards. This is a lovely classic Belle Epoque glamour portrait. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
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