This gilt and gesso painted pine plaque is from the original oil painting of 'The Imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots at Lochleven Castle' by Alfred Barron Clay (1831 -1868). Clay painted this in 1857 and exhibited in 1861.
The painting that this nameplate comes from was last sold in London at Bonhams in 1998 for a £3000.
Perhaps a new plaque was commissioned for the painting and this was replaced at some point in its life.
Alfred Barron Clay, history painter was born June 3. 1831, at Wafton-le- Dale, near Preston and died of atrophy, Rainhill, near Liverpool, 1 Oct. 1868.
Measuring: 30 cm x 11 cm x 2 cm