{"product_id":"king-george-iii-great-britain-a-rare-reverse-painted-mezzotint-on-glass-after-jeremiah-meyer-ra-engraved-by-richard-purcell-london-circa-1763-1765","title":"18th Century King George III  Reverse-Painted Mezzotint Engraved by Richard Purcell","description":"\u003ch2\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e👑 King George III, Great Britain\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Rare Reverse-Painted Mezzotint on Glass after Jeremiah Meyer RA, Engraved by Richard Purcell\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLondon, Circa 1763–1765\u003c\/strong\u003e\n\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🎨 Subject \u0026amp; Medium\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn exceptionally rare and historically significant eighteenth-century reverse-painted mezzotint on glass depicting \u003cstrong\u003eKing George III of Great Britain\u003c\/strong\u003e, engraved by \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Purcell\u003c\/strong\u003e after a portrait by \u003cstrong\u003eJeremiah Meyer RA\u003c\/strong\u003e, and published by \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sayer of Fleet Street, London\u003c\/strong\u003e, circa 1763–1765.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCombining the finest traditions of British mezzotint engraving with the highly specialised and technically demanding art of reverse painting on glass, this remarkable portrait represents one of the most desirable forms of Georgian decorative art. During the eighteenth century such works were regarded as luxurious decorative objects, considerably more costly than conventional paper engravings and intended for display in refined domestic interiors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eToday, surviving examples are considerably scarcer than their paper counterparts, particularly those retaining their original inscriptions and decorative integrity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🏛 Composition \u0026amp; Technique\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe young monarch is portrayed in noble profile wearing formal court dress and the insignia of the \u003cstrong\u003eMost Noble Order of the Garter\u003c\/strong\u003e, Britain's highest order of chivalry.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe image originates from a mezzotint engraved by Richard Purcell after Jeremiah Meyer's celebrated likeness of the newly crowned king. Following publication, the print was painstakingly hand-coloured and reverse-painted on glass, a highly specialised process requiring every colour, shadow, highlight, and detail to be applied in reverse order to the back of the glass before being viewed from the front.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis demanding technique produces a distinctive luminosity and jewel-like brilliance impossible to achieve in ordinary printed works. The survival of the complete inscription panel, together with the artist, engraver, and publisher's details, elevates this example well above the norm for surviving eighteenth-century specimens.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e👤 About the Sitter\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKing George III (1738–1820)\u003c\/strong\u003e was one of Britain's most influential and enduring monarchs, reigning from 1760 until his death in 1820.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHis long reign witnessed some of the defining events of the modern era, including the American War of Independence, the expansion of the British Empire, the French Revolutionary Wars, and the eventual defeat of Napoleon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePortraits produced during the early years of his reign served not merely as likenesses of the sovereign but as potent symbols of loyalty, authority, and national identity throughout Britain and its colonies. As such, they were widely displayed in both public and private settings across the empire.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e📜 Historical Context\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished shortly after George III's accession to the throne, this portrait belongs to the golden age of British mezzotint engraving.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work was issued by \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sayer\u003c\/strong\u003e, one of the most important print publishers operating in Georgian London. Reverse-painted glass portraits represented a more luxurious and decorative alternative to conventional engravings and were frequently displayed in country houses, libraries, townhouses, and formal reception rooms.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDue to the inherent fragility of painted glass, many examples suffered damage, loss, or deterioration over the centuries. Consequently, authentic eighteenth-century examples survive in substantially smaller numbers than equivalent paper impressions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMuseum-quality examples retaining strong visual appeal, complete inscriptions, and documented provenance are becoming increasingly difficult to source.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🖋 About the Artist \u0026amp; Engraver\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJeremiah Meyer RA (1735–1789)\u003c\/strong\u003e was a founding member of the Royal Academy and served as Portrait Painter to Queen Charlotte. His refined portraits became closely associated with the early Georgian court and helped establish the official visual image of Britain's young monarch.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe engraving was executed by \u003cstrong\u003eRichard Purcell (c.1720–1766)\u003c\/strong\u003e, one of the foremost mezzotint engravers active in mid-eighteenth-century Britain. Purcell's work is represented in major institutional collections and remains admired for its technical mastery, tonal richness, and exceptional quality.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe inscription \u003cstrong\u003e\"Richd. Purcil Fecit\"\u003c\/strong\u003e confirms Purcell as the engraver, the Latin \u003cem\u003efecit\u003c\/em\u003e translating as \u003cem\u003e\"made this\"\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e✍️ Inscribed\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe lower margin retains its complete original engraved inscriptions, including:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMeyer Pinx.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"Richd. Purcil Fecit\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTogether with the title:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\"George the III, King of Great Britain, \u0026amp;c. \u0026amp;c.\"\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eand the publisher's imprint for \u003cstrong\u003eRobert Sayer, Fleet Street, London\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe survival of these complete inscriptions significantly enhances the portrait's authenticity, historical importance, and collector appeal.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🖼 Framing \u0026amp; Conservation\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProfessionally conserved and presented in a bespoke \u003cstrong\u003eLarson-Juhl moulded frame\u003c\/strong\u003e, fitted with premium \u003cstrong\u003eArtglass AR99 Water White Museum Glass\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis museum-grade glazing provides exceptional optical clarity, anti-reflective performance, and approximately 99% ultraviolet protection, ensuring both an outstanding viewing experience and long-term preservation of the delicate painted surface.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe quality of the conservation framing reflects the significance of the artwork it protects and represents a substantial investment in its future care.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e📏 Dimensions\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFramed\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e42.5 cm high × 33 cm wide × 2 cm deep\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eVisible Image\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e36 cm high × 25 cm wide\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e📚 Provenance\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrivate Collection, United Kingdom\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHutchinson Scott Auctioneers – Lot 656\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrivately loaned and exhibited at the Famous Lord Hill Museum, Shropshire\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCurated by Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e❤️ Why You'll Love It\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Original Georgian period example dating to circa 1763–1765\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Rare surviving reverse-painted mezzotint on glass\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Engraved by Richard Purcell, one of Britain's finest mezzotint engravers\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ After a portrait by Jeremiah Meyer RA, founding member of the Royal Academy\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Retains complete title panel, artist attribution, engraver attribution, and publisher's imprint\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Documented auction provenance\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Professionally conserved with Artglass AR99 museum glazing\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Significant historical connection to both British and American history\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Exceptional decorative presence for a library, study, country house, or fine art collection\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Increasingly difficult to source in such complete and attractive condition\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e✔ Museum-quality example of eighteenth-century British decorative art\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003e🔍 Condition Report\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePresented in very good antique condition consistent with its age of approximately 260 years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work retains strong colour, excellent decorative appeal, and complete inscriptions. Expected age-related wear is present, including minor paint loss, oxidation, craquelure, and isolated surface deterioration consistent with authentic eighteenth-century reverse-painted glass works.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe portrait displays exceptionally well and benefits from modern conservation framing incorporating Artglass AR99 museum glazing and a bespoke Larson-Juhl frame, both of which remain in excellent condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003econdition report available upon request for qualified collectors.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col gap-4 grow\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv dir=\"auto\" class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal outline-none keyboard-focused:focus-ring [.text-message+\u0026amp;]:mt-1\" tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full wrap-break-word light markdown-new-styling\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+\u0026amp;]:mt-1\" dir=\"auto\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[1px]\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full break-words light markdown-new-styling\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv id=\"thread-bottom-container\" class=\"group\/thread-bottom-container relative isolate z-10 w-full basis-auto has-data-has-thread-error:pt-2 has-data-has-thread-error:[box-shadow:var(--sharp-edge-bottom-shadow)] md:border-transparent md:pt-0 dark:border-white\/20 md:dark:border-transparent content-fade single-line flex flex-col\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"text-token-text-secondary relative mt-auto flex min-h-8 w-full items-center justify-center p-2 text-center text-xs md:px-[60px]\"\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eShipping\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWorldwide Shipping Available — Professionally packaged and fully insured for secure international delivery.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAvailable exclusively through Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD — Inquire now to secure this piece.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full break-words light markdown-new-styling\"\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56991217910138,"sku":"CAC-SK-0492","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0201\/2227\/1808\/files\/Important-18th-Century-Georgian-Reverse-Painted-pic-1A-2048-15.15-4f708dd9.jpg?v=1781895962","url":"https:\/\/cheshireantiquesconsultantltd.com\/fr-fr\/products\/king-george-iii-great-britain-a-rare-reverse-painted-mezzotint-on-glass-after-jeremiah-meyer-ra-engraved-by-richard-purcell-london-circa-1763-1765","provider":"Cheshire Antiques Consultant LTD","version":"1.0","type":"link"}