This small frame would once have housed a miniature, probably a portrait or bucolic scene. The virtuoso carving combines naturalistically depicted leaves, husks and ribbons with the stylised motifs typical of the neo-classical style, which drew upon the arts and architecture of ancient Greece and Rome for inspiration. There are traces of gilding on the slender beading next to the band of water leaf decoration on the inner edge of the frame. This would have lightened the effect of the dark wood and drawn the eye towards the framed picture.