This pattern of guardian grecian sphinx, with jewelled headdress, Minerva-like breast-plate and lambrequined saddlecloth, in the French manner, relates to lead models acquired for Lord Burlington's villa at Chiswick, Middlesex, in the 1740s (see R. Hewlings, Chiswick House and Gardens, 1989, p. 20). The same pattern also featured in the architect Robert Adam's design of the 1760s for the entrance steps of Osterley House, Middlesex (see A. Rowan, Robert Adam, Rugby, 1988, no. 83).
A drawing of this sphinx is illustrated in Mrs Coade's 1784 catalogue, no. 55, together with a Coade Stone sphinx at Gosford House, Scotland (see A. Kelly, Mrs Coade's Stone, Worcs., 1990, p. 268).