Lot Essay
It has not been possible to identify the precise sitters of the present set of five busts by Pasquinelli. However, given the dates of the works, ranging from 1922 to 1924, it is possible that the gentleman portrayed might have been an aide de camp to the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII, who visited India in 1922. King George V and Queen Mary had visited the country eleven years previously for the Delhi Durbar of 1911 and the officer wears the medal with which those who had attended the event were decorated. It is possible that the four boys depicted might have been pages attached to the officer during his stay in India. However, given that the pages were often young princes, dressed in elaborate costume, and that the features of the sitters are rather more Caucasian than Asian, it is more likely that they represent the sons of the officer and that this is a family portrait commemorating the visit to India, possibly executed from a photograph sent subsequently to Pasquinelli in Florence.