A German 14k four colour gold box with portrait of the electoral prince and landgrave Wilhelm II von Hessen.
Shallow rectangular box with moulded edges and opulent Biedermeier decor in four shades of gold. The lid with four rosettes surrounded by acanthus tendrils around a central gouache on ivory portrait miniature under glass showing the Prince Elector in uniform. The sides and base guilloched, the base inset with a tondo of a flower vase in a laurel wreath border. With red gold lining. No hallmarks. 2.0 x 9.0 x 6.2 cm. Weight 147.39 g. In the original silk-lined case.
Hanau, c. 1821.
The very finely painted miniature shows Wilhelm II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, who ruled as the penultimate Elector of Hesse since 1821. The portrait was probably created on the occasion of his taking office. He was the only surviving son of the Hessian Landgrave Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel, who was made Elector in 1803, and his wife Princess Wilhelmine Karoline of Denmark and Norway. The portrait shows him in the uniform of a Prussian lieutenant general, highly decorated with the following orders: on his neck the grand crosses of the Hessian House Order of the Golden Lion and the Electoral Hessian Wilhelm Order, on his chest the stars of the Order Pour La Vertu Militaire Prussian Red Eagle Order and the Hessian House Order of the Golden Lion as well as a medal clasp with the Iron Cross, the Hessian Military Order of the Iron Helmet and two war memorial medals. A painting by Wilhelm Steinmüller from 1835 shows a mirrored image of the much older elector in the same uniform.