Lot 24: Denis Brownell Murphy (Irish, active circa 1763-1842) Mary Stuart (1542–1587), Queen of Scotland (1542-1567), Queen Consort of France (1559-1560), wearing red dress with standing collar, embellished with pale blue gem stones and gold embroidery to

Mary Stuart (1542–1587), Queen of Scotland (1542-1567), Queen Consort of France (1559-1560), wearing red dress with standing collar, embellished with pale blue gem stones and gold embroidery to her neckline and standing collar which frames the high white ruff collar of her chemise, pearl pendant necklace with garnet pendant cross, gold head-dress with pale blue gem stones matching the embroidered panel to the neckline and collar of her dress (damaged).
Enamel, signed on the counter-enamel, MARY/ Queen of Scots/ from an original by/ Zuccero/ in Enamel by/ DB Murphy, gilt-metal frame with pierced border of crown and thistles.
Octagonal, 77mm (3 1/16in) high
Provenance: Sir Bernard Eckstein; Sotheby's, 31 March 1949, lot 115
Sotheby's 21 May 1953, lot 52, sold to S.H.R. Harris for £12

According to the inscription on the counter-enamel, the present lot is after a portrait by the Italian artist Federico Zuccari. Another example, one of a group of seven portraits of 16th-17th Century Royal subjects, is in the Gilbert Collection. See Sarah Coffin and Bodo Hofstetter, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, p.89-91, ill.p.90, pl.A.

Mary Stuart, was the only legitimate child of King James V of Scotland to survive her father. Her mother was James V's second wife, Mary of Guise. Mary Stuart was just six days old when her father died and was crowned Queen of Scots only nine months later.

In 1558, she married Francis, Dauphin of France. He ascended the French throne as Francis II in 1559, and Mary became Queen consort of France until she was widowed on the 5th December 1560. Mary returned to Scotland and four years later, married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Their union was unhappy and in February 1567, Darnley was found dead, apparently strangled, in the garden. She soon married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was generally believed to be Darnley's murderer.

Following an uprising against the couple, Mary was imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle and forced to abdicate in favour of her son, James VI. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain the throne, Mary fled to England seeking the protection of Elizabeth I, whose kingdom she had previously claimed as her own. Perceiving her as a threat, Elizabeth had her arrested. After nineteen years in custody, Mary was tried for treason and executed at Fotheringhay Castle on the 8th February 1587.