The frame on A Sheikh and his son entering Cairo on their return from a pilgrimage to Mecca is contemporary with the painting, which was presented by a committee of gentlemen in 1878, four years after it was painted.
It is possible the frame was made by William Benham, whose label noting frame making activities appears on the stretcher, but he may equally have been a supplier of the stretched canvas and is more known as an artist colourman.
The painting was shown at the Royal Academy London in 1875 and it is likely it was shown in this frame. It travelled to Launceston, Tasmania in 1877 and then to the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
The frame is reminiscent of the Vokins frame built for Edwin Long’s painting, Queen Ester, from 1878, making use of composition ornament to link the decoration of the frame with the subject and detail of the painting.