The pattern for this bearded head, casually dressed in a Georgian turban, was a popular keystone for the houses built in the Bloomsbury area of London in the late 18th Century, and also features above a doorway at Southernay, Exeter (see A. Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, Worcs. ,1990 p.22). Described as The'laughing Philosopher' it was noted in the Coade stone order book, drawn up by William Croggon (d.1835), who managed Mrs Coade's Lambeth Works from 1813 to 1821.