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Lot Essay
Ferdinand Maximilian Karl Leopold Maria was born in Vienna, a Prince of the Kohary branch of the ducal family of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As the son of Prince August of Saxe-Coburg and his wife Clémentine of Orléans, Prince Ferdinand spent his youth both in the cosmopolitan milieu of Austro-Hungarian nobility and on his ancestral lands in Slovakia and Germany. Like most of his Saxe-Coburg-Gotha relatives, Ferdinand aspired to occupy a European throne of his own. In 1887 Bulgaria's Grand National Assembly elected Ferdinand Prince Regent or Knjaz of Bulgaria in order to prevent Russian occupation of the country. When the country declared independence from the Ottoman Empire on 5 October 1908, Ferdinand ascended to the throne, thus founding the royal dynasty of Bulgaria. In 1893 Ferdinand married his first wife, Princess Marie-Louise of Bourbon-Parma (1870-1899), with whom he had four children. The couple employed Johannes Zehngraf to paint their portraits for use on presentation pieces and other diplomatic gifts similar to the present snuff-box. A similar miniature by Zehngraf of Princess Marie-Louise of Bulgaria can be found on a German enamelled gold presentation snuff-box by the Friedländer Brothers. The snuff-box set with a miniature of the Princess, presented by King Ferdinand to his Court Marshal Count Robert de Bourboulon was sold Christie's, London, 6 November 2001, lot 154.
Though the first two decades of his reign were generally considered a success, the succession of the Balkan and First World Wars eventually terminated Ferdinand's rule. After the Bulgarian army was decimated by the Allied Forces in Greece in the fall of 1918, Ferdinand abdicated from the throne. By granting rule to his eldest son King Boris III, Ferdinand hoped to save the ailing throne. The fallen King spent the remainder of his life in exile in Coburg where he died in 1948.
Though the first two decades of his reign were generally considered a success, the succession of the Balkan and First World Wars eventually terminated Ferdinand's rule. After the Bulgarian army was decimated by the Allied Forces in Greece in the fall of 1918, Ferdinand abdicated from the throne. By granting rule to his eldest son King Boris III, Ferdinand hoped to save the ailing throne. The fallen King spent the remainder of his life in exile in Coburg where he died in 1948.