This work is one of the few surviving portraits of Alexander Menshikov made in his lifetime. On his chest are the star and sash of the Order of St Andrew the First-Called and the badges of two foreign orders of which Menshikov was the holder - the Polish White Eagle anf the Prussian Black Eagle. The Order of the White Eagle was originally founded in 1325, but no appointments were made to it in the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1705 the order was revived by King Augustus II of Poland (Elector Frederick Augustus I of Saxony), an ally of Peter the Great in the Northern War (1700-21). The Order of the Black Eagle was established when the Kingdom of Prussia was proclaimed in 1701. On the back of the canvas are stamps and a paper label testifying that the depiction is indeed of Menshikov and that in 1745 the office responsible for furnishings gave the portrait "into the keeping of the court painter G. Grooth" - Georg Christoph Grooth who between 1743 and 1750 had charge of Empress Elizabeth's collection of paintings.