Oval agate and gold snuff box, the hinged lid with inset miniature on ivory of Augusta, Princess of Wales: bust-length; facing forwards, head turned half right; wearing a blue dress edged with ermine and two jewels on the bodice; light brown eyes, fair hair with diamond tiara, pale complexion. Beneath the lid is a miniature on ivory of Frederick, Prince of Wales: bust-length; facing half left, looking forwards; wearing a crimson coat lavishly faced with gold embroidery, crimson ermine-lined robe, ribbon and star of the Garter; blue eyes, powdered hair (or wig) and pale complexion.

This box and others including RCIN 4041 and 4031 are likely to have been keepsakes presented to members of the Princesses' households or their friends. The agate and gold cagework box is typical of the snuffboxes produced in England in the mid-century.

The portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales is a reduced copy of Liotard's pastel portrait at Windsor Castle - one of the 'Nine Portraits of the Royal Family, Liotard. Paper, Crayons', painted for the Princess of Wales, but posthumously and based on an earlier portrait of 1740-5. The portrait of Augusta, Princess of Wales, is a reduced version of Liotard's pastel portrait at Windsor Castle, painted in February 1754. The miniaturist of both of these portraits has not been identified with certainty, but they may both be by Clara Leigh.

Text adapted from The First Georgians; Art and Monarchy 1714 - 1760, London, 2014.