Purchased by the 9th Earl in Rome in 1775 through the antiquarian Thomas Jenkins. Such miniature mosaics were a favourite `Grand Tour’ purchase. Aguatti was especially celebrated for this technique. A letter to the Earl from Rome, dated March 11th 1775, from Thomas Jenkins, who acted as an agent for several Grand Tourists, comments that Aguatti `was certainly the best workman that ever was in Mosaick’.
