The origins of the present model were researched by Zorka Hodgson in her article, 'Chelsea Boy's Head after Francois Duquesnoy-Il Fiammingo', English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Vol.15, Pt.2, 1994, p.184-89. Hodgson suggests that the Chelsea porcelain head was likely modelled from a plaster cast, taken from François Duquesnoy's (1597-1643, Il Fiammingo) marble sculpture of a putto which appears on the tomb of Adrien Vryburch in Santa Maria dell'Anima in Rome. She illustrates three Chelsea porcelain busts of this type, each with small variations in modelling.
A small number of early busts of this model are recorded: the first in the collection of Lord and Lady Fisher, in the Fitzwilliam Museum which is the only example marked with a raised anchor1; another from the Property of Dr. and Mrs. Bellamy Gardner, sold Sotheby’s, London, 12 June 1941 lot 12, subsequently in the collection of Miss Margaret MacHarg, sold Sotheby’s, London, 16 May 1961, lot 146; an example from the Property of Sir Bernard Eckstein, from the collection of Lord Boston, sold Sotheby’s, London, 29 March 1949, lot 88 and subsequently Property of Mr. and Mrs. James MacHarg, sold at Sotheby’s, London, 22 May 1962 lot; an example in The Rous Lench Collection, sold in these Rooms, 30 May 30 1990, lot 346; another was sold Sotheby’s, London, 10 July 1962, lot 67, subsequently with Brian Haughton Antiques, Splendour of a Golden Age (2004), cat. no.7 and again in the Mavis Bimson Collection, sold Bonhams, London, 14 December 2023, lot 278. See the example on a wooden socle in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, see accession no. C.34-1975.
1. See F. Severne Mackenna, Chelsea Porcelain, the Triangle and Raised Anchor Wares, London, 1948, no. 83.