This engaging and intimate portrait possibly depicts the clockmaker Johann Seytz who for a time was based in Regensburg and provided a number of timepieces to the von Thurn und Taxis family at Schloss St. Emmeran. Little is known of Seytz, but the fact that this important noble family had a portrait of a humble clockmaker adorning their walls indicates that it could be someone who was local, well known to them and, though a tradesman, held in high esteem by the family.

Unusually he is depicted wearing outside clothing as a heavy blue great coat covers the usual brown coat with matching waistcoat which was popular in the early 1770s. He holds up in his right hand the verge, or crown wheel, escapement from a clock, a gesture that echoes portraits from the 16th century and earlier where the sitter is often depicted holding some flower or significant object that alludes to family connections or background.

The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis established its wealth and authority by organising the imperial postal system across Germany and central Europe, ultimately being rewarded with the position of imperial postmaster general as a male hereditary right. During the 17th century the family rose from Barons (1608) to Counts (1624) and finally in 1695 under Emperor Leopold I, to Princes. Their residency at Regensburg, notably as representatives of the Holy Roman Emperor in the Parliament or Diet, resulted in much economic prosperity in and around the city both culturally and socially. Under these circumstances they embellished and extended the old monastery buildings of St. Emmeran into a vast palace.