An unknown man is shown in relief facing to the right. He has dark curly sideburns and is dressed in a black frock coat, white shirt and cream waistcoat. The wax us set on dark green glass with a gilt inset to the frame.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, low relief portraits in wax became popular in Britain and they were often exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society of Artists and elsewhere. Waxes were used in a similar way to prints and medals, in order to disseminate the image of the sitter, or, like miniature paintings or silhouettes as portable mementoes.
