Baroque exuberance abounds in the massing of leaves and flowers carved in high relief on this large frame. Cherubs hold a shield intended for a coat-of-arms. A border of flowers interrupted by blank areas, rather than continuous flowerage, indicates a late 17th-century date.

The French word for crown prince is dauphin. It also means dolphin, a favorite motif used in French art whenever the throne boasted a crown prince.

The history of the mobile picture frame begins in the 16th and 17th centuries with the emergence of easel painting. Mirrors have a much longer history. The Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans used polished bronze to admire their reflections. In 625 A.D., Pope Boniface IV gave a silver mirror to the Queen of Northumbria. In the middle ages polished metal or glass backed with thin sheets of metal was used.

The art moderne style was prompted by contemporary French art deco design of the 1920s. The term art deco was derived from the 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts) in Paris, though not coined until the 1960s.

This "Grand Prize" punch bowl is an excellent example of American brilliant cut glass, a type of glass known for its deeply cut decoration.