Portrait of Mary Bassett, aged 13, half-length, in a red dress, holding a bunch of grapes in her left hand

The sitters in this and the following lot were presumably the daughters of James Basset (d.1604), of Tehidy, and his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Francis Godolphin, Kt., of Godolphin. Their ancestor Thurstan Basset had arrived in England with William the Conqueror. The family was particularly notable for the strong support it gave to the Royalist cause during the Civil War. The sitters' eldest brother Sir Francis Basset, who was Sheriff and Vice-Admiral of Cornwall for most of the Civil War, was obliged to sell St. Michael's Mount and other property on account of the debts he built up in the Royal cause, while another brother, Sir Thomas, was a Major-General under King Charles I and commanded a division of the Royal army at the battle of Stratton.