CARL JOHANN SIGMUND BUCHNER - 1821-1918 A picture frame with a portrait of Infanta Dona Antónia of Portugal (1845-1913) watercolour on cardboard silvered and gilt bronze frame "Putti holding garlands of flowers among flowers and plant windings", upper part with two polychrome enamel and gilt metal applications - coat of arms of Hohenzollern and coat of arms of Portugal - surmounted by a royal crown, base with engraved reserve "Landscape with the Sigmaringen Castle" German minor fault on the enamel, other minor defects signed and dated 1884 Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - (aguarela) 16 x 12 cm; (moldura) 31,5 x 24 cm Notes: "Bust portrait of Dona Antónia of Braganza, Infanta of Portugal, daughter of Queen Dona Maria II and King Dom Fernando II of Portugal, and Princess of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen through her marriage to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern. The subject is shown in three-quarter view, with a floral headdress, blue ribbon in her hair, black velvet necklace and pendant, in a composition of a private nature, although still dependent on the formal codes of nineteenth-century dynastic portraiture. The oval format, the smoky background and the chromatic intervention on the face, headdress and attire bring the image closer to the tradition of miniature painting, preserving a language of intimacy, distinction and family memory (...). The Buchner signature allows us to relate the piece to the German artistic milieu and, in particular, to the activity of Carl Johann Sigmund Buchner (Nuremberg, 1821 – Stuttgart, 1918), a portrait painter and photographer active in the 19th century, appointed painter and photographer to the court of the Kingdom of Württemberg in 1885. His practice lies precisely at the intersection between the pictorial tradition of portraiture and the consolidation of photography as a means of social and dynastic representation. The Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen provenance is particularly relevant to the interpretation of the work, as it places the portrait within the German family circle of D. Antónia as a German princess. The piece may also be related to the circulation of portraits offered by the Infanta to members of the Portuguese aristocracy, as suggested by the documentary reference to a portrait sent to the Countess of Ponte, accompanied by a silver frame, in a letter preserved in the National Archive of Torre do Tombo, Archive of the Royal House, box 7343." - Architect Eduardo Marques. Cabral Moncada Auctioneers thanks Architect Eduardo Marques for his help in identifying this item. Provenance: House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen