It depicts a life-size kneeling figure of an African man wearing a feathered loincloth and holding a stone and brass sundial on his head.

It is thought that it was cast after a model by Jan van Nost (c.1660–1729) which was installed in 1701 in the Privy Garden of Hampton Court Palace.

The figure has been categorised as an example of a tradition in western art history called the "blackamoor", a personification of the continent of Africa, and as an anonymous ‘kneeling slave’.

The blackamoor caricatures appeared in a wide range of arts including sculpture, painting, architectural decoration, ceramics, silverware and furniture, and generally depicted a generic black person in exoticised costume and posted in a servile position, holding an object.

Historic England noted that the National Trust had not requested listed building consent prior to the removal of the Grade II-listed sundial.