Carl Meinelt, who signed here ‘C. Meinelt’, was a porcelain painter active in Bamberg between 1852 and 1886 and who specialised in the depiction of classical subjects. As well as exhibiting as an independent porcelain painter (his work was shown in Paris in 1855 and he was awarded a Bronze medal at the International Exhibition in South Kensington, London in 1862, for a work after Leonardo da Vinci), he also worked as one of a team of artists for the porcelain painting institute of Carl Schmidt, which had been based in Bamberg, thirty miles south of Prince Albert’s home town of Coburg, since 1833.

As well as making copies of Old Master paintings, Meinelt also produced a number of popular genre scenes often focusing on idealised, female figures in rural settings. The subject of this painting may have particularly appealed to Queen Victoria who, despite her evident dislike of pregnancy, was a caring and devoted mother.

To produce an enamel on porcelain plaque, powdered glass, metal oxides and oil were first mixed to form a paint which was then applied, colour by colour, onto a prepared, porcelain support. After each application of colour, the plaque was fired in a kiln. The process was technically demanding. Each colour had to be fired at a different temperature and therefore had to be applied in the correct sequence, and the enamel had to be added in thin, even layers to prevent chipping once the plaque had cooled. Some plaques could require up to fifteen separate firings in order to fix all of the colours, while larger plaques were typically more valuable as they were more prone to cracking during the firing process.