Hoskins & Grant supplied Wedgwood with a plaster cast of a bust of Socrates in 1775, although the full size bust was not included in Wedgwood's Catalogue until 1779 (as no. 23). Wedgwood produced a broad range of commercially successful neo-classical busts, in different sizes and subjects, that were suitable for a number of domestic interior settings. As he set about increasing the number and range of busts in production, in 1774 he wrote to Bentley to confirm that he would be sending him 'a collection of the finest heads in this World'. See Robin Reilly, Wedgwood, Vol. I, London, 1989, pp. 455-456 and fig. 647 for a smaller version of the bust of Socrates. See also the bust of Socrates from the Zeitlin Collection, sold Bonhams Skinner, 9 September 2006, lot 269.