LONDON.- A previously unrecorded portrait miniature of Queen Elizabeth I circa 1595/1600 by Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619) (estimate: £60,000-80,000) leads Christie’s London Important Portrait Miniatures and Gold Boxes sale on 5 June 2007. This is part of a collection of 17 portrait miniatures from a private collection which was formed by a descendent of Sir Edward Lycett Green Bt. These works have not been seen on the market for over half a century.

This portrait of Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was painted by Hilliard during the last years of Her Majesty’s reign, circa 1595/1600. Other known versions of this portrait are held in museum collections, with two in the V&A, one in The Royal Collection and another in the Fitzwilliam Museum. All known versions are slightly different, with variations in costume, background and mythological guises.

Portraying the queen in the character of Cynthia, Queen of Seas and Land, this idealised miniature masks the age of Elizabeth I who would have been in her sixties at the time this was painted. The queen’s comment that “we princes are set as it were upon stages in the sight and view of the world,” perhaps reflects that her appearance was part of her armour, explaining why she commanded Hilliard, her court painter, to execute this work without aging shadows in the face.

Hilliard was renowned for capturing the lustre of the jewels and sumptuous fabrics of his sitters’ costumes. His skills are exemplified by the intricate lace, jewels and real gold work used to embellish this miniature. Hilliard himself invented a special technique to execute the rubies and also employed an extraordinary process to create the tiny gold areas, which initially involved grinding gold leaf with honey and lastly using an animal’s tooth to enhance the shine. The queen’s costume is finished with more than one hundred simulated pearls and other jewels. The touches of silver which created highlights have tarnished over time, however the texture and relief of both the simulated jewels and the ruff retain their original Tudor magnificence.

“I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king.” Elizabeth I, Tilbury speech, 1588.