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Lot Essay
The sitter is thought to be a child of Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707-1751), the most likely - assuming the date of the picture has been read correctly - being the youngest of his nine children, Caroline Matilda.
The Princess is seated beside a tassled bolster on Frederick, Prince of Wales's golden framed throne, that is draped with a stately gold- fringed hanging of red velvet. The Prince's coronet, displayed with his feather-plumed badge and motto, crowns the throne's triumphal-arched back. It is framed by Ceres' flower-issuing cornucopia, emblematic of Peace and Plenty, while palms wrap the sides of the throne, whose arm displays the festive head of a bacchic (British) lion.
The ornament of the throne, which stands beside an elegant Ionic pilastered niche crowned by the nature deity Venus's shell badge, reflects the Roman fashion promoted by the artist/architect William Kent (d.1748). Such ornament features in his work, including his designs for the Prince's State barge, published in J. Vardy's, 'Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent', 1744.
The frame, with architectural flowered tablet corners in the George II Roman fashion, is carved in bas-relief with flowered and foliated ribbon-scrolls.
The Princess is seated beside a tassled bolster on Frederick, Prince of Wales's golden framed throne, that is draped with a stately gold- fringed hanging of red velvet. The Prince's coronet, displayed with his feather-plumed badge and motto, crowns the throne's triumphal-arched back. It is framed by Ceres' flower-issuing cornucopia, emblematic of Peace and Plenty, while palms wrap the sides of the throne, whose arm displays the festive head of a bacchic (British) lion.
The ornament of the throne, which stands beside an elegant Ionic pilastered niche crowned by the nature deity Venus's shell badge, reflects the Roman fashion promoted by the artist/architect William Kent (d.1748). Such ornament features in his work, including his designs for the Prince's State barge, published in J. Vardy's, 'Some Designs of Mr. Inigo Jones and Mr. William Kent', 1744.
The frame, with architectural flowered tablet corners in the George II Roman fashion, is carved in bas-relief with flowered and foliated ribbon-scrolls.