The Raab Collection announced today it would offer for sale a rare, important, illuminated letter of state by the Elizabethan painter William Segar, from Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, to his Princely counterpart in Russia, on behalf of a trader of the Muscovy Company. This document, the highest level of diplomatic statecraft of the era, sought to help establish better commercial relations with Russia.
“It is rare to find a letter of such historical, diplomatic, and artistic importance survive,” said Karen Pearlman Raab of The Raab Collection. “This is particularly the case when you think that many of the early documents in the history of the great Muscovy Company were destroyed by fire.”
In the document, Prince Henry, son of new King James I, promises open trade with Russia and desires his agents “may have free leave for our service to buy any rare or strange things within the Emperor’s dominions;” He specifically mentions an interest in Hawks. – Learn more at: https://www.raabcollection.com/foreign-figures-autographs/henry-frederick-russia
About The Raab Collection: The Raab Collection has handled many of the most important historical documents to reach the market and worked with the families of famous Americans in the sale and preservation of their family treasures, among them Thomas Jefferson, Ulysses S. Grant, William Henry Harrison, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Ronald Reagan. Karen Pearlman Raab sits on the Director’s Council of the University of Pennsylvania Museum and also chairs the Founders Award Benefit at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. To learn more, visit www.raabcollection.com or follow at @RaabCollection on Twitter.
Below is a gallery of images from the document.
