Rectangular gold snuffbox mounted with glazed miniatures; the hinged lid with a miniature of Queen Charlotte and her siblings, four seated including the Queen, three standing behind in front of a curtain and pillar; inside lid, a miniature of Queen Charlotte's grandparents seated on a sofa, with her parents standing behind them; the sides with river and coastal scenes on paper.

The early provenance of this gold snuff box is not recorded but it may have been a gift to Queen Charlotte from one of her brothers. A miniature set into the lid depicts the Queen seated with her four brothers, sister and sister-in-law supporting an infant niece. A second miniature inside the lid shows the Queen's grandparents (Adolphus Frederick II (1658-1708 and his third wife, Christiane Emilie) with her parents (Charles (1708-1752) and Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713-1761)).

Both miniatures are clearly concoctions, derived from several existing portraits. The identifications of the individual sitters are based on details such as uniform and insignia rather than obvious likenesses. The miniatures depict groupings which could never have taken place, and include surprising juxtapositions. The Queen did not return to Mecklenburg-Strelitz after 1761 and she was destined never again to meet her beloved elder brother Adolphus Frederick IV (1738-94) and sister Christiane (1735-94), although they corresponded regularly (see no. 393). Nor did the Queen meet her sister-in-law Frederica of Hesse-Darmstadt (1752-82), who married the Queen's brother Charles (1741-1837) in 1768; Frederica was unable to accompany her husband to England in 1771.

The miniatures appear to have been painted around 1770. One might expect Queen Charlotte to be the seated figure with jewelled aigrette in her hair, seated left of centre, but she must instead be the figure seated further to the left, wearing the deep red ribbon of the Order of St Catherine which she had received from Empress Catherine II (the Great) in 1766. The figure with the aigrette would therefore be the unmarried sister, Christiane. Their eldest brother Adolphus Frederick stands to the right of centre, wearing the riband and star of the Garter, with which he was invested, at Strelitz, in 1764. The standing figure at left is the next brother, Charles - who succeeded Adolphus Frederick IV as Duke, becoming Grand Duke in 1815 - whose wife (Frederica) and infant daughter (Charlotte, 1769-1818) are seated at right. The standing figures behind are (at right) the third brother, Ernest (1742-1814) and (to the left of centre) the fourth brother, George (1745-85). Inside the lid, the portraits of the Queen's parents, Charles and Elisabeth Albertina, who died respectively in 1752 and 1761, must have been copied from earlier pictures, probably by Johann Georg Ziesenis, in the family collections.

Catalogue entry adapted from George III & Queen Charlotte: Patronage, Collecting and Court Taste, London, 2004