The medallioned frames, with lambrequined and pagoda-swept canopies of flower-festooned Roman-acanthus, relate to 'Chinese Sconce' patterns attributed to Thomas Johnson (d.c.1778) and published in Genteel Household Furniture in the Present Taste, 2nd ed., c. 1765, pl. 98. Whereas a rustic Chinese head surmounted the Johnson design, these frames display heads of pearl-jewelled nymphs with Egyptian or 'antique' head-dresses, in the Louis XV manner. Amongst the most celebrated craftsmen working in this technique in the middle of the 18th Century were Peter Babel of Long Acre, who in 1752 advertised 'Papier Mache Ornaments for ... Picture-frames etc.' and Rene Duffour of Berwick Street. In reference to the threat posed to the carvers by such moulded ornament, the frontispiece to One Hundred and Fifty New Designs, 1758, issued by Thomas Johnsom, included an image of 'French Papier Machee' being torched by an infant genius (M. Snodin, Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England, London, 1984, no. M29).

A related carton-pierre mirror was sold by Commander Clare Vyner, Studley Royal, Yorkshire, in these Rooms, 21 April 1966, lot 11, and again anonymously, Christie's New York, 24 October 1984, lot 159.