The shell motif, which was introduced as antique or Roman ornament by G.B. Piranesi's Diverse Maniere d'Ornare I Camini, 1769, first featured in an inlaid elliptic tablet in the 1788 Estimate Sketch Book of Gillows of London and Lancaster. The Water Element, here celebrated by Neptune's triumphal conch shell, provides appropriate tablet ornament for a herm-legged wash-stand, that is designed in the elegant antique manner promoted by Messrs A. Hepplewhite & Co.'s The Cabinet-Maker and Upholsterer's Guide, 1788.