Superior quality miniature on ivory painted by well-known London miniature portrait artist Nathaniel Plimer (1757-1822).

Plimer was born to a clockmaker, also named Nathaniel, and his wife variously called Mary Elizabeth or Eliza,in Wellington, Shropshire.

He was originally apprenticed as a clockmaker like his brother Andrew but both ran away and traveled for over two years in Wales and the west of England with a troupe of Gypsies before settling in London in 1781. He was apprenticed to Henry Bone the enameler, after working as his manservant, before joining his brother Andrew in studying drawing with Richard Cosway. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1787 until 1815. He exhibited twenty-six works. Many of his smaller portraits are highly regarded.

Works of Nathaniel Plimer can be seen in Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, the Cleveland Museum of Art. Plimer lived the rest of his life in London apart from about a decade (1804-1814) in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Plimer had four children, the youngest of whom, his daughter Adela, married the painter, Andrew Geddes.

Literature: "General Artist´s Lexicon " by Thieme/Becker ; Foskett I, 1972; Schidlof, 1911

Inscriptions: signed on the left edge in the middle, on the back of the original silver frame - monogram of depicted noble person.

Technique: gouaches on ivory, silver frame of the original period (reverse side - silver with gilding), above and below the image - braided hairs.

Measurements: visiable image w 2" x h 2 3/8" (5 x 6 cm), framed w 2 3/8" x h 4 1/3" (6 x 11 cm).

Condition: in very good condition.