Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia 1740-1786, facing left in the uniform of the Prussian Life Guards, blue coat with red collar and silver buttons, frilled cravat and black stock, silver-bordered black tricorn hat adorned with silver-embroidered rosette, wearing the breast-star of the Royal Prussian Order of the Black Eagle

Details

ANTON FRIEDRICH KOENIG (1722-1787)
Frederick the Great (1712-1786), King of Prussia 1740-1786, facing left in the uniform of the Prussian Life Guards, blue coat with red collar and silver buttons, frilled cravat and black stock, silver-bordered black tricorn hat adorned with silver-embroidered rosette, wearing the breast-star of the Royal Prussian Order of the Black Eagle
oval, 1¾ in. (45 mm.) high, brown leather hinged case, the cover gilt-stamped with initials FR [Fridericus Rex] surmounted by the Royal Prussian crown

Provenance

Heinrich Wilhelm von Schwartz (1763-1832), 'geheimer Commerzienrath', Royal Prussian General Consul in Hamburg.
Ferdinand von Schwartz (1774-1835), Senator of Hamburg.
His son Ferdinand von Schwartz (1813 - after 1877), Bamberg.
His nephew Charles Cambridge Macdonell Pryor.
His son Wilfried Pryor.
Thence by direct descent.

Special notice

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Lot Essay

Son of Frederick William I, King of Prussia, whom he succeeded as Frederick II in 1740 and Sophia-Dorothea, daughter of King George I of Great Britian, Frederick II's reform of the Russian army and his struggles with Austria and Russia, mark him as one of the great soldiers in history. He was also a keen follower of literature, author of several historical works, a correspondent of Voltaire's and a talented flautist.
As he was not interested in his wife Elizabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, he was succeeded by his nephew, Frederick William II (see following lot).
An identically cased miniature of the King by the same artist, from the estate of King Louis I of Bavaria, is in the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, Munich.

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