A GERMAN PASTE-SET ENAMELLED GOLD PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE

PROBABLY HANAU, CIRCA 1860, STRUCK WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 2507

Details

A GERMAN PASTE-SET ENAMELLED GOLD PRESENTATION SNUFF-BOX SET WITH A PORTRAIT MINIATURE
PROBABLY HANAU, CIRCA 1860, STRUCK WITH INVENTORY NUMBER 2507
cartouche-shaped box with baluster sides, the cover applied with an oval fixé-sous-verre portrait miniature of Crown Princess Frederick of Prussia (1840-1901), within a paste-set frame on a blue guilloché ground flanked by three enamelled silver-mounted paste stones on each side, the cover, sides and base boldly chased with scrolls, shells and foliage
4¼ in. (110 mm.) wide

Brought to you by

Victoria Drummond

vdrummond@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2699

Lot Essay

Born Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise in London, England, in 1840, Empress Frederick (1840-1901) was the oldest child of England's Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. She married Prince Frederick William of Prussia, German Emperor Frederick III (1831-1888) in 1858, at age 17. On the death of his father on 9 March 1888, the Crown Prince ascended the throne as the Emperor Frederick III and as King Frederick III of Prussia and Victoria adopted the title and style of Her Imperial and Royal Majesty the German Empress, Queen of Prussia. Frederick, however, was terminally ill with throat cancer and died after reigning for just ninety-nine days. From then on she was known simply as Her Imperial Majesty the Empress Frederick. She and Frederick had eight children together: Wilhelm II, Charlotte, Henry, Sigismund, Victoria, Waldemar, Sophie and Margaret. Empress Frederick died on August 5, 1901, in Schloss Friedrichshof, Kronberg, Germany.

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