"Portrait of young red-haired child with rattle and tartan, presumed to be from the Duff family." Pastel on paper, under glass, oval coral-coloured velvet frame. H. 83 x W. 64 cm. (as is, paper damage, tears, damp) Probably, with reservations, the coat of arms of the Scottish Duff family. Blazon vert, on a fess argent three ermine spots sable, in chief a stag's head caboshed Or, in base two scallops Or. The Duff family claims ancestry dating back to Dubh I, King of Scotland (962-967), whose name means "dark" or "black" in Gaelic. The clan is historically linked to Clan MacDuff, one of the most powerful medieval clans in Scotland, whose chiefs were the hereditary Earls of Fife and had the exclusive right to crown the kings of Scotland. In 1759, William Duff was created Earl of Fife by King George II. The family became part of the British nobility. In 1889, Alexander Duff, 6th Earl of Fife, married Louise of Wales, daughter of the future King Edward VII. He was elevated to the rank of Duke of Fife, a ducal title exceptionally granted to a Scottish subject married to a royal princess. Alexander Duff died in 1912 during a trip to Egypt, after contracting pneumonia. With no surviving sons, the ducal title was recreated for life for his daughters, a rarity at the time. His daughter Princess Alexandra of Fife inherited the title under specific conditions.