A watercolour depicting Spry (a sailor on board HMS Serapis, on which Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, travelled to India) dressed as Father Christmas on Christmas day 1875. Inscribed and dated: Spry as Father Christmas. Xmas Day. Serapis / 1875.

In October 1875, Albert Edward, the eldest son of Queen Victoria, embarked on an extensive tour of the Indian subcontinent. The Prince visited more than 21 towns and cities before returning to England in May 1876. The Prince of Wales’s tour of India was envisaged as a way of forging diplomatic links between the Indian rulers and the British Crown. The Prince exchanged gifts with each ruler he met and some of the most significant Indian works of art in the Royal Collection today were acquired during this tour.

Sydney Prior Hall was a draughtsman and illustrator who worked for the Graphic, as well as a portrait painter. He was invited to accompany the tour of India made by the Prince of Wales as Special Artist, and his watercolours of India were exhibited in 1876 at the South Kensington Museum along with some of the gifts given to Albert Edward. Many of the drawings Hall made during the tour were also reproduced as illustrations to The Prince of Wales's Tour. A Diary in India (1877) by William Russell, the Prince's Honourable Private Secretary.