PRUSSIAN SCHOOL, CIRCA 1740/1742, AFTER ANTOINE PESNE

Prospective purchasers are advised that several co… Read more

PROPERTY FROM A MILANESE PRIVATE COLLECTION

Details

PRUSSIAN SCHOOL, CIRCA 1740/1742, AFTER ANTOINE PESNE
Eleonore Freifrau von Keyserlingk, née Countess of Schlieben-Sanditten (1720-1755), playing a lute, in lace-trimmed décolleté blue dress, white frilled choker, drop-pearl earrings, her powdered upswept hair dressed in tight curls and decorated with black plume and peach flower; foliate landscape background
on ivory
oval, 2 7/8 in. (73 mm.) high, gilt-metal frame

Provenance

Sotheby's, London, 15 July 1968, lot 120 (as a Continental Miniature, 'painted some-what in the style of Ernst August Abel').

Special notice

Prospective purchasers are advised that several countries prohibit the importation of property containing materials from endangered species, including but not limited to coral, ivory and tortoiseshell. Accordingly, prospective purchasers should familiarize themselves with relevant customs regulations prior to bidding if they intend to import this lot into another country.

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Lot Essay

Eleonore Freifrau von Keyserlingk, née Countess of Schlieben-Sanditten, was an 'Ehrendame' (lady of honour) to Queen Elisabeth Christine of Prussia, wife of King Frederick the Great. She was the daughter of the master of the hunt, 'Oberjägermeister' von Schlieben-Sanditten and she married in 1742 Dietrich Freiherr von Keyserlingk, a close friend of King Frederick the Great. On the occasion of the christening of their daughter Adelheid in 1744, the king was holding the child. After Keyserlingk's death in 1745, the king took care of the widow and the young child.
The present miniature is after a rectangular large-scale portrait by Antoine Pesne, circa 1740/42, now at Charlottenburg Castle, Berlin (see E. Berckenhagen et al., Antoine Pesne, Berlin, 1958, p. 152, no. 189, pl. 179).

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