One of four miniatures commissioned by Queen Victoria from Simpson for 30 guineas in 1847, this enamel depicts Count Emanuel Mensdorff-Pouilly, spouse of Queen Victoria's aunt, Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. The enamel appears to be after an untraced pastel, probably by an artist of the Viennese school c.1810 and shows the sitter wearing cavalry uniform with the neck badges of the Orders of St Vladimir and St Anne.

John Simpson (1811-after 1871) was trained as a porcelain painter at the Derby porcelain factory before moving to London in 1845. He soon established a practice as a miniature painter specialising in works on enamel, and fulfilled the first of many commissions for Queen Victoria in that year. He is last recorded describing himself at the end of his career as a 'photographic artist' (1871 census return); the date of his death is not known.

Signed, dated and inscribed on the counter-enamel in red paint: Emmanuel / Count Mensdorff / Pouilly b. 1777 / by Simpson 1847.