The interior of the lid is fitted with an extended miniature, according to family tradition representing Karl Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow (1708–1752), father of Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744–1818), later consort of George III of Great Britain and Ireland (1738 1820). This attribution was changed at the time of the 1997 sale, in line with R. J. B. Walker’s identification of the figures in a snuffbox in the British Royal Collection, set with miniatures of grouped members of Queen Charlotte’s family, presumed to be based on portraits by Johann Georg Ziesenis (1716–1776). Walker identified a figure, evidently copied from the same portrait as the present example, as Queen Charlotte’s elder brother, Adolf Friedrich IV, Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz (1738–1794). In fact, subsequent research has shown that the original identification should stand and the figure in the two miniatures is indeed Karl Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, seen wearing the star and red sash of the Order of St Hubert from the Palatine Electorate which he was awarded on 2 February 1729. A later portrait in the Mecklenburg-Strelitz Collection at Schloss Mirow shows the duke also wearing the insignia of the Polish Order of the White Eagle and the Prussian Order of the Black Eagle.

minimize...