Portrait of Carl XIV Johan, King of Sweden and Norway (1763-1844), full-length, wearing the Royal Order of the Seraphim, standing beside a table

Carl XIV Johan (1763-1844) was King of Sweden and Norway from 1818 until his death in 1844. Born in France as Jean Bernadotte, he served long and distinguished career in the French army achieving the rank of General and then being appointed Marshal of France by Napoleon I. Thanks to his benevolence during the war with Denmark, he won the sympathy of the Swedish population, who were in favour of electing him as successor of the childless King Charles XIII. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was adopted by King Charles XIII in 1810 and so changes his name. During his reign, Karl XIV Johan developed a keen interest in the quarries of Alvdalen (Elfdal) which appeared to have been the only place in Europe since Antiquity where porphyry was mined seriously. Mining had started in the 1780s and in 1818 Carl XIV Johan bought the quarries from the Elfdahls Porfyrwek (The Porphyry Works of Alvdalen) a company which was founded by governors and industrialists in order to start production of porphyry objects. The porphyry quarries stayed in Royal ownership until 1856 (see the previous lot 160 for a fine example of Swedish granitell). A similar portrait of King Carl XIV Johan by Olof Södermark remains at the King's former home Rosendal, near Stockholm.