This frame draws on the form and detailing of frames from Italy and Spain, particularly Spanish bolection frames of the seventeenth century. It presents a solid border in relation to the watercolour and is one we might more easily associate with oil paintings on canvas. It nevertheless reflects a theme that runs through from the nineteenth century, to frame works on paper with the formality and grandeur of their contemporaries on canvas and panel.
The frame is a mixture of cast and carved ornament worked on a wooden base. The corners of the basic construction are splined mitres. The working edge tapers at the back to produce a thin aspect when on the wall. The corner elements appear to be cast, probably in composition, set into a hollow in the timber. The leading edge is carved into the wood. The surface is false gold throughout, with variations in tone which might well be the result of variations in the alloy of the leaves themselves. There is a deliberate patination of the surface with dark paint worked into the hollows.
The frame appears to be in original condition, the variations in tone being as much to do with the original materials as to later restoration.