A pastel portrait drawn by the prolific itinerant portraitist John Saunders (1682-ca.1758) at Peterborough in September 1739. Saunders is recorded as active in East Anglia, the Midlands and elsewhere in the mid-18th century. The sitter John Sturges appears in Turkish costume, wearing a white turban with blue feather and a coat with gold trimmings and a fur collar. Saunders probably based it on a 1733 mezzotint drawn and engraved by Francis Kyte (d. 1744) after a painting (or the ink-wash drawing noted below?) by John Vanderbank (1694-1739). The pastel is of interest as an example of mid-18th century depiction of Turkish costume.
With a paper label on the back with a manuscript note repeating information from the autograph pencil inscription by Saunders on the front, top right: "Saunders pinxit after Mr. J[oh]n Vanderbank Peterborough Sept. anno d. 1739". Two negligible scratches to surface, otherwise in good condition. Jeffares, "John Saunders 1682-p. 1758", in: Dictionary of pastellists before 1800 (online ed.).