Lot 124: James Ferguson (Scottish, 1710-1776) George Keith (c.1692-1778), 10th Earl Marischal of Scotland, wearing suit of armour, white stock and frilled chemise, his powdered wig tied in a knot at his left shoulder

George Keith (c.1692-1778), 10th Earl Marischal of Scotland, wearing suit of armour, white stock and frilled chemise, his powdered wig tied in a knot at his left shoulder.
Plumbago, gilt-mounted within turned and ebonised wood frame.
Oval, 83mm (3 1/4in) high

Keith was the 10th and last Earl Marischal and served in Flanders under the Duke of Marlborough from 1708 to 1711. As a Jacobite, he fought to return the Stuarts to the throne of England during the Jacobite Uprisings but was captured for treason by the Hanoverian government and his estates were given to the crown. He fled to the continent and went on to serve the Jacobite court at Avignon before serving as their ambassador in Spain and then in Prussia. Keith then served Frederick the Great as his Ambassador to Spain from 1759 to 1761, informing the Hanoverian government of Spanish preparations to enter the war as an ally of France, which gained him a pardon by George II on the 29th May 1759. He gradually earned back his right to use his title again and regain his estates. He eventually settled in Prussia however and died in Potsdam.