Portrait of a Naval Officer, aged twenty, three-quarter-length, holding a sphere on a table in his right hand, a dog at his side, with shipping beyond

The frame's acanthus-wrapped volutes incorporate shell corner badges, emblematical of Venus, the nature goddess, while its arched pediment displays a cartouche with the head of a hound, perhaps emblematical of Diana, goddess of the chase. At the sides, Venus's rose badge embellish the centre, while an armorial cartouche and scrolled tablet feature at the base. A comparable frame surmounted by the Royal crown and dating from around 1665 was sold in December 1990. Henry Phillips (d. 1693) Master Carver to King Charles II Board of Works is noted as supplying a picture frame for Whitehall Palace in 1664 (see G. Beard, Dictionary of English Furniture Makers, 1896).