Frederick II, King of Prussia (1712-86) is depicted here wearing the star of the Order of the Black Eagle and holding a baton. Frederick was the son of Frederick I, King of Prussia, whom he succeeded as Frederick II in 1740. On his accession he embarked on a campaign to win the prosperous Austrian province of Silesia during the Silesian Wars (1740-45). He achieved military acclaim for himself and Prussia and is best known for his brilliance in military campaigning and his organisation and reform of the Prussian army. He also encouraged industry, agriculture and judicial reform, and was a cultured aesthete who loved music, architecture and philosophy, even corresponding at length with Voltaire.

This miniature seems to have been made up from one of the many portraits of Frederick by his court painter, Antoine Pesne. It may have been painted in the studio of Frederick's court miniature painter, Anton Friedrich König.