The Italian sculptor, Ferdinando Vicchi, or Vichi, was working in the Tuscany region at the turn of the century. Unfortunately, no records of the sculptor are traceable in the literature on this period, although many of his works are known and it is clear that he was a prolific and successful artist. Vicchi specialised in decorative figures and busts in both alabaster and marble, quarried locally, and he appears to have been a master of the romantic style, the present group, with it's Egyptian theme, being a good example of his oeuvre. Much of Vicchi's work, along with that of many of his Italian confrères, was undoubtedly intended for the export market and, in the present case, found its way there via Pietrò Bazzanti's sculpture gallery in Florence.