The 12 1/2in (32cm) high equestrian study is a particularly ambitious example of the work of Charles Rosenberg (1745-1844). Painted on glass, it depicts the future George IV, then Prince Regent, in the brightly coloured and gold-trimmed uniform of the 10th Light Dragoons seated on a leopard skin saddle set on a red shabraque worked with the Royal insignia.
The range of colours is unusually rich for the artist and, even more unusual, is his decision to set the portrait against a detailed watercolour background. Appropriately for this subject, the scene depicts the seafront at Brighton where the Prince Regent spent so much time. It shows the east front and, with a certain degree of artistic licence, Rosenberg has inserted the Royal Pavilion (which was never on the seafront) before it got its exotic makeover.
The silhouette was in particularly well-preserved condition, in its original frame, and was bought by a private non-specialist purchaser, underbid by a silhouette collector.
