The mantelpiece in this room features floral swags, baskets of flowers, and dancing figures, all crisply modeled in the neoclassical taste popularized by English architect and designer Robert Adam. These decorations are made of composition, a putty-like substance that was easily molded and that hardened as it dried, providing a less expensive alternative to carved wood. Robert Wellford learned the trade of composition ornament making in London before immigrating to Philadelphia in the 1790s. His successful manufactory supplied fashionable architectural elements to builders as far away as Charleston, South Carolina.