Adelaide (1777-1847) was the daughter of the Louis-Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (known as Philippe Egalité during the French Revolution) and Louise de Bourbon. In 1792, during the French Revolution, her father was sent to the guillotine and she fled, eventually joining her mother in Spain. She returned to Paris after the fall of Napoleon in 1814, and was at the centre of support for her brother, Louis-Philippe, who became king of the French from 1830 to 1848, in what became known as the July Monarchy. She died two months before her brother’s abdication.

The artist, Frédéric Millet (d. 1859) was one of the best pupils of Jean-Baptiste Isabey. He exhibited work at the Paris Salon between 1806 and 1859, including many portraits of the Bonapartes and the French royal family.

The miniature is signed on the balustrade on the left: millet.