Prince Albert: A lacquer cigar case, Stobwasser, Brunswick, circa 1840

of upright oval section, the front painted with Albert in uniform, the lid with Mark IX

The same subject appears on a rectangular snuff box in the Glanz Collection, illustrated in J. Glanz, Historisches und Frivoles auf Lackdosen, 1999, p. 42, and in D. Richter, Lackdosen, 1988, no. 279.  The catalogue of the Phillips Collection, Sotheby's London, 4 July 1934, lot 138, identifies the painter of the original portrait as "F. Hanfstaengl of Gotha, published March 30th, 1840, by Jas. Budd of Southampton Street, Strand."  The portrait was likely painted to comemmorate the engagement of the sitter and Queen Victoria, which occurred on 15 October 1839, the engraving published as a means of introducing the new Prince Consort to the British public following the wedding on 10 February 1840.