The cut-out newspaper article from the Mail & Express, dated 10 April 1886, stuck down on the reverse of the frame, describes the present work as 'An interesting Curio Containing Miniatures of Twelve of Sweden's Monarchs' and identifies its owner, a Mr W. W. Biddulph of the Atlantic Cable. In 1865 the SS 'Great Eastern' set sail to America to lay a transatlantic telegraph cable across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean and Biddulph was a member of the electrical staff on board the ship. It is likely that the present work travelled with him at this crossing. According to the article, it was valued in London prior to his trip at $2,500.
For a similar composition by Nicolas Lafrensen the Elder depicting Swedish rulers from the Houses of Vasa, Palatine-Zweibrücken (a branch of the House of Wittelsbach) and Hesse, see G. Cavalli-Björkman, Svenskt Miniatyrmaleri, Stockholm, 1981, illustrated p. 75, fig. 60 and M. Olausson and J. Sjöholm, Nationalmuseum Stockholm. Illustrerad katalog över svenska och övriga nordiska miniatyrer, Halmstad, 2001, I, illustrated p. 333.