Frederick II, King of Prussia (1712-86) is depicted as Mars, the god of War, in a plumed helmet and wearing the ribbon of the Order of the Black Eagle. In the background the sun is rising behind a Roman temple.

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.

The miniature is based on an allegorical etching of 1763 by Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki entitled: FREDERIC VICTORIEUX ET PACIFICATEUR (Frederick the Victorious and the Peacemaker). It may have been painted by Frederick's court miniature painter, Anton Friedrich König, or possibly by Chodowiecki himself.