Dummy boards are life-size, flat, wooden figures painted and shaped in outline to resemble figures of servants, soldiers, children, and animals. The taste for using illusionistic painted figures as a form of house decoration probably originated in the trompe l’oeil, or life-like interior scenes painted by Dutch artists in the early 17th century. Dummy boards continued to be produced into the 19th century. They were placed in corners and on stairways to surprise visitors, or in front of empty fireplaces in the summer. Most were made by professional sign-painters, who also produced the hanging street signs prevalent until the late 18th century.

This life-size figure of a woman looking into a mirror is well-dressed, the style of clothes suggesting a date of about 1640. It came from East Sutton Park in Kent, and has carved wooden feet, the right foot projecting outwards. As she is looking into a mirror, she probably represents 'vanity'. The V&A collection has a companion dummy board showing the same figure holding a broom, representing 'industry'.