“The sibyl is presented holding a palm-scepter and seated upon a throne before a marble canopied niche. A festoon of olive boughs hangs over her head. Butterflies, symbols of the soul, hover at one side; lamps at either hand illuminate the carved pilasters above, that at the left representing a blindfolded cupid, beneath a circlet of roses, and that at the right a skull, beneath a wreath of poppies; carved in the niche appears a winged sphinx and, at the left, perhaps a many-headed serpent.”