The arabesque griffin garlanding an urn is taken from the Temple of Antonius and Faustina, Rome, and was engraved as suitable ornament for a 'Frieze or Tablet' in Thomas Sheraton's The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Drawing Book, 1793, pl. 56.
A related set of George III rosewood hanging-shelves with floral marquetry on a satinwood ground was sold from the Leidesdorf Collection, Sotheby's New York, 28 June 1974, lot 90.