GERMAN SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY

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Details

GERMAN SCHOOL, 19TH CENTURY

A frame containing six portrait miniatures of members of the House of Hanover, clockwise from top left: Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (1818-1907), consort of George V of Hanover, in off-the-shoulder red dress, drop-pearl earring and pearl necklace; George V, last King of Hanover (1819-1878) in blue military uniform, wearing the breast-star of an order; George V of Hanover, in blue military uniform, wearing the sash and breast-star of an order, holding a plumed helmet in his right hand; Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland, Queen of Hanover (1778-1841), mother of George V, in an off-the-shoulder red dress, wearing a diamond tiara, pearl and sapphire necklace, the ribbon of the Royal Prussian Order of Louise and a portrait miniature in a diamond frame; Frederick VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg (1769-1829), George V's uncle by marriage, in red uniform as Colonel of 4th Regiment of Hussars, wearing the ribbon and badge of the Imperial Austrian Order of Maria Theresa, badges of Alexander Nevsky and Red Eagle, blue ribbon and breast-star of the Russian Order of St Andrew and the Order of St George, chain and breast-star of the Hungarian Order of St Stephen, and two others; and Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover and Duke of Cumberland (1771-1831), father of George V, in military uniform with gold frogging and large fur collar, wearing breast-stars
On ivory
Ovals, ranging from 32 mm. high to 110 mm. high, all in gilt-metal mounts with gilt-metal scroll labels detailing the name and dates of each sitter, all six set into a larger rectangular velvet panel in a gilt-metal frame

Provenance

Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1852-1925), from 1890 to 1918, last ruling Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, married from 1891 to Ann-Luisa, Princess of Schönburg-Waldenburg (1871-1951) but without descent.
Her brother, Ulrich, Prince of Schönburg-Waldenburg (1869-1939).
His second son, Georg Ulrich, Prince of Schönburg-Waldenburg (1908-1982), married to Pauline Countess Castell-Castell.
The Property of a German Princely House; Sotheby's, London, 15 November 1982, lot 31.

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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Victoria Drummond

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Lot Essay

The miniature of Frederick VI is similar to one attributed to Caspar Gerhard Klotz in the British Royal Collection (RCIN 420765, see R. Walker, The Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, Cambridge, 1992, no. 976, pp. 436-437). A full-length unattributed oil, with the same head and shoulders, is in the collection of Schloss Homburg.
A miniature of Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland, Queen of Hanover after a work by Alexander Schäfer, is also in the British Royal Collection (RCIN 420759, see V. Remington, Victorian Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, London, 2010, II, no. 764, p. 437). This was also copied in enamel by John Haslem (RCIN 421891, see V. Remington, op. cit., I, no. 517, p. 276).

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