Picture frames as a concept have been around since the times of the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks, where “framing borders” were used in paintings on pottery and walls to create sections of scenes. One of the earliest physical frames dates back to AD 50-70; the wooden frame and the portrait within was found in an Egyptian tomb and was almost perfectly preserved.

The twelfth and thirteenth centuries brought about the hand-carved, wooden frames that we recognize today. These frames were used as part of a church’s decor, and provided borders to separate the different paintings and sections within the sanctuary—much like the concept of framing borders introduced centuries earlier.

Frames used within homes were only introduced after the “mobile frame” movement, according to “A Survey of Frame History.” Originally, artwork was made frame first—in other words, the area in which the artwork was to be painted was demarcated by the carved frame, and the artwork was later added; these pieces were largely immobile, as they were generally part of a church’s structure.

When people began to realize that there were more individuals interested in art outside of the church, these “moveable, independent painted units” became more common and new framing methods were developed.