Emma Rutherford is a freelance art historian who has specialised in portrait miniatures for over twenty-five years. Emma has close working relationships with museum and gallery curators, as well as conservators and restorers and has conducted many significant private and public valuations, and private treaty sales. She has unearthed many important portrait miniatures, including, most recently, a previously unknown portrait of Arbella Stuart in a cabinet miniature by Nicholas Hilliard (1547-1619), which appeared in an article in The Burlington Magazine (April 2024). Emma began her career working in the Victoria and Albert Museum whilst completing an MA in Victorian Art and Architecture. She set up the Portrait Miniatures Department at Phillip's Auctioneers and after the amalgamation of Phillips and Bonhams she became Departmental Director. In 2007, she became consultant to Philip Mould & Co., adding portrait miniatures to their inventory. Here, she curated and co-curated many exhibitions of portrait miniatures, most recently the awarding-winning "Without Hands"; The Art of Sarah Biffin (2022). In 2023, Emma established The Limner Company. Through this organisation, she hopes to bring portrait miniatures to a wider audience, sharing the latest research and exhibitions, and a carefully curated selection of original works for sale. In September 2024, her next exhibition will open at Compton Verney House - entitled 'The Reflected Self', it will be a survey of the portrait miniature in fashion, personal relationships and key political moments in history.