(Updated December 2021) Oval miniature in watercolour and gouache, probably on ivory, in an oval moulded and gilded display frame, with a suspension-ring fitting. The sitter is shown head and shoulders turned almost fully to his left but looking out at the viewer, against a neutral green-brown background. He has brown eyes, short (probably powdered) hair half-concealing the tops of his ears and wears the 1795-1812 captain's full-dress uniform with both the epaulettes, indicating over-three-year's seniority.

John Spratt Rainier and Captain Peter Rainier (1784-1836, see BHC2962) were the naval nephews of the immensely wealthy Admiral Peter Rainier (1741-1808). They were cousins, John being the younger son of Daniel Rainier (1739-1802), the Admiral's elder brother, and Peter son of another, John. The younger Peter, like his uncle, also made a large independent fortune in the East from prize money and it was John Spratt and his closely older brother, Dr. Peter Rainier (1777-1837), who became the Admiral's prime residuary heirs.

John became a lieutenant on 11 May 1794 and was 5th lieutenant in his uncle's East Indies station flagship, the 'Suffolk', 74 guns, in 1795. Rainier senior clearly promoted him locally to commander before February 1796, in the 'Swift' sloop, 16 guns, when he commanded her as one of his uncle's squadron at the seizure of the Dutch possessions of Amboyna, in the Moluccas, and Banda Neira. There was little resistance and a captain's share of prize-money for these was reported to be £15,000. John would probably have received this, or at least a sizeable sum, quite apart from his later share in Peter senior's fortune - which was in the region of £250,000, the equivalent of millions today. He also became post-captain on 22 December 1796, first commanding the 'Vindictive' and then the 'Dordrecht' (probably the 64-gun Dutch flagship taken as a prize when the British seized the Cape of Good Hope from the Dutch in August 1796). He moved to the 'Centurion' in 1798 but after that commission appears not to have served again, except for a possible connection noted in the Pitcairn-Jones sea-officers' list to the 'Norge' (perhaps a Danish prize) in 1810. He became a rear-admiral on 12 August 1819, presumably when on half-pay, but no further promotions are recorded. It thus appears that while he did not have a notably distinguished (or indeed long) active career, by 1808-09 John Rainier was a wealthy man by the standards of his age and probably enjoyed leisured retirement thereafter. His second name (that of his mother's family) sometimes also appears as 'Sprat'.

A previous note stated that this item was originally in a glazed and gilded frame (possibly meaning a gilt metal one for carrying on the person) but there is no earlier paper record of that, although it may once have been. It appears to have entered the Museum collection in 1935 but exactly how remains to be clarified.

An oil portrait of John Spratt Rainier by John Hoppner (30 x 25 in., facing left) is also recorded, though long in America where it was last sold by Doyle's, NY, on 21 January 2021.