Michiel Emanuel Shee (fl. 1721-1739) is documented as active in The Hague in 1721, and also in Amsterdam, where he died in circa 1740. Little is known today about Shee, but in the posthumous inventory of the contents of Shee's house (cf. Bredius, op. cit.), among a number of allegorical statues and putti, is recorded one that represents dankbaarheid or Gratitude. Ripa (op. cit.) lists the stork as a symbol of Gratitude, and granted the rarity of this attribute, the present putto with a stork may well be related to the one representing Gratitude in Shee's posthumous inventory.
The Rijksmuseum (op. cit.) have several sculptures which they attribute to Shee, mostly of playful and allegorical children. This particular subject appears to have been a speciality of Shee's, examples of which are in terracotta, marble and wood. A terracotta model of the present boy with a puppy and beehive is in the Rijksmuseum, and though highly finished it may well be a presentation model for the sandstone series.
Though the generous number of attributes accompanying the present putti make a mystifying allegorical whole, the sandstone set of figures is a charming example of the 18th Century Dutch taste for garden statuary and rare addition to Shee's oeuvre.