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This finely detailed enamel can be attributed to the esoteric but gifted enamellist Johann Friedrich Ardin. Born in Geneva, he was a pupil of Peter Boy (1648–1727) and worked in Germany at the court of the Elector Palatine, Johann Wilhelm (1658-1716). The present portrait demonstrates careful attention to detail – from the multitude of colours employed for the tones of the sitter’s face to the gold paint at the edge of the turned-back cloak. The sitter wears no orders and was possibly a high-ranking official at court, his pose echoing other compositions by Ardin. The assertion that the sitter may have been ‘Count Gustav Bonde’ cannot be sustained on the basis of the date of the portrait.
Ardin’s work is represented in public collections all over Europe, including the Bayerisches National Museum, Munich and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The gold frame on this enamel appears to date from slightly later in the eighteenth century and is of an English design, suggesting that the enamel eventually found its way to England.