The sitter is the only surviving daughter of Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick; she became a nun at the Abbey at Gandersheim in Lower Saxony. This was a community of unmarried daughters of high nobility who led a godly life; she is depicted wearing a crucifix, working at wool, to indicate her piety and diligence; two green parakeets perch behind her.

Labels on the reverse of the painting record the artist’s name as G.t Maiser or  G.A. Meuser; although no artist of these names is yet identified. Portraits of the sitter’s grandparents, previously attributed to a G A Meuser, are in the Royal Collection (RCINs 406425, 403530).