This is one of a pair of stone sphinxes which were originally placed either side of the ‘Sphinx Walk’ in the landscaped garden at Soho House, Matthew Boulton’s home in Handsworth.

Over 100 acres of garden buildings and statuary were to be found at Soho. Today only half an acre survives next to Soho House, and the sphinxes are the only survival from the estate on which Boulton lavished so much time and care.

They were described in the diary of one of the manufactory employees in the 1820s:

‘…the path, particularly between the Gardener’s House and the House was very pretty, a combination of flowers on each side, and was called the “Sphinx Walk” after the carved stone “Sphynxes” at the front of the house…’