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A GEORGE III AJOUREE GILT-BRONZE PROFILE PORTRAIT RELIEF OF LEOPOLD II, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR OF HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA (1747-1792)

BY CHRISTIAN HALLER, CIRCA 1790

Details

A GEORGE III AJOUREE GILT-BRONZE PROFILE PORTRAIT RELIEF OF LEOPOLD II, HOLY ROMAN EMPEROR OF HUNGARY AND BOHEMIA (1747-1792)
BY CHRISTIAN HALLER, CIRCA 1790
On a later oval velvet-covered ground and in a moulded wood frame with suspention loop; with various paper labels to the reverse and inscribed inventory numbers "S. 596" and "3967", within a comtemporary 18th century English frame
3½ in. (8.9 cm.) high; 7 3/8 in. (18.3 cm.) high, overall

Provenance

Acquired by Lady Charlotte Schreiber (d.1985); thence by descent to her daughter, Blanche, Countess of Bessborough (d.1919), Stanstead Park, Sussex; until sold
Sotheby's house sale, 5 October 1999, lot 358.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

This portrait relief bears the ink inventory mark of the celebrated diarist Lady Charlotte Guest (1812-95), better known to the world as Lady Charlotte Schreiber. For fifteen years she ransacked Europe to form her famous collection of china, consisting of 2,000 pieces which she presented in 1884 to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert), where it is known as the Schreiber Collection.

The relief also bears the inventory label of Blanche, Countess of Bessborough (d.1919), daughter of Lady Charlotte Schreiber and her first husband Josiah John Guest, 1st Bt. (1785-1852). Blanche Vere Guest married Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough (1851-1920) on 22 April 1875.
Christian Haller was a coin engraver at the Mints of Vienna and Brussels from 1777-1787 and 1787-1793 respectively.

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