The 17th century portrait of John Cosin required a period frame as part of the Auckland Project.  Using an over-lay tracing from the portrait I hand-made an oval frame with the ideal aperture shape out of English Lime and carved the period-suitable leaf pattern based on examples of other frames from the period.  The carved surface was finished following traditional water gilding techniques with a white gold leaf to recreate a silver finish (without the tarnishing issues associated with silver leaf). The gilding was toned down to be more age suitable using watercolours.  I added a softwood backing frame of suitable depth and rebate size to allow for conservation standard fittings and spacers.