Way's miniature depicts Oskar I, King of Sweden in Swedish general's uniform with the neck badge of the Order of Charles XIII of Sweden and the badges of the Orders of Seraphim, the Sword, Vasa and North Star.Oskar I, King of Sweden and Norway, was the son of Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of Napoleon, known as Carl XIV, King of Sweden and Norway, and of Desideria, daughter of François Clary of Marseilles. In 1823 he married Joséphine, daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg. He succeeded his father in 1844 and was in turn succeeded by his eldest son, Carl XV. His name was given to his godson, Oscar Wilde, whose father, the Irish physician Sir William Wilde, treated Oskar I for an eye complaint some years before the King's death in 1859.

Johann Wilhelm Carl Way (1792-1873) was born in Sweden to an English father who was employed by the Admiralty. Way came to London in 1807 to study drawing before training under Alexandre de Latour (1780 – 1858) in Brussels as a miniaturist. In 1821 he became a member of the Academy of Stockholm, where he was professor of art history from 1831. He travelled between Copenhagen, London and Paris 1828 – 31. A number of his miniatures are in the National Museum, Stockholm.

Signed in black paint lower right: Way 1822