Lot 162: Carl Gottlob Schmeidler (German, 1772-1838) A pair of portrait miniatures of Count Kurt von Götzen and Countess Mathilde von Götzen (née von Reichenbach-Goschütz) (1799-1858): the former, wearing dark blue jacket with gold piping and buttons, green

A pair of portrait miniatures of Count Kurt von Götzen and Countess Mathilde von Götzen (née von Reichenbach-Goschütz) (1799-1858): the former, wearing dark blue jacket with gold piping and buttons, green standing collar with gold embroidery and aiguillette, the badges of the Royal Prussian Order of the Iron Cross and the Imperial Russian Order of St. Anne; the latter, wearing red gown with gathered sleeves, gold embroidery at her Empire line, her blue cloak fastened at her shoulder with a gold pin, her dark hair plaited and upswept in a high knot at the back of her head, parted at the front and curled in ringlets.
Each signed on the obverse Schmeidler, gilt-metal frames.
Rectangular, 89mm (3 1/2in) high (2)
Provenance: Christie's, 6 November 2001, lots 199 and 200

Count Kurt von Götzen auf Ellguth, the son of Count Frederick William von Götzen and Frederica Charlotte of Reichenback, was a Royal Prussian Chamberlain and the hereditary landowner of Ellguth-Schmark/Trebnitz. He married, as her first husband, Mathilde, third daughter of Count Henrich Gottlob von Reichenback-Goschütz and Johann Countess of Solms-Baruth. She divorced von Götzen and married Prince Hermann Anton of Hatzfeldt in 1831, whom she also divorced in 1846. Her children from her second marriage include Prince Stanislas of Hartzfeldt, Countess Franziska of Nimptsch zu Jaeschkowitz and Princess Elisabeth of Carolath-Beuthen.

Further information on the great Silesian miniaturist Schmeidler can be found in the publication by Erwin Hintze, Schlesische Miniaturmaler des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts, 1904, pp.136-140.