Roman general Scipio Africanus (larger figure in gold armor at the left) was a favorite example of mercy in warfare in Renaissance and Baroque art. During the siege of New Carthage, Scipio returned a beautiful female prisoner (possibly the figure seated at right) to her fiance. For this generous act he received a ransom (the gold vessels and armor shown here at the left), which he returned to the couple as a wedding present. In return, the families of the couple pledged their allegiance to Rome. There are three other tapestries in the Stair Hall from this set, which Doris Duke bought in 1958 for Rough Point.

Two paintings by French artist Oudry hang on the second floor landing at Rough Point are preparatory sketches for paintings commissioned by Samuel Jacques Bernard, the comte de Coubert (1686-1753), for the dining room of his grand hôtel on the rue du Bac in Paris, built between 1740 and 1742. The full-scale paintings were removed in 1887 when the hôtel was dismantled and its decorations sold. They are now in the Museés des arts décoratifs, Strasbourg.

Doris Duke purchased this pair of earthenware fruit baskets, which include lizards, frogs, and insects in their decoration, in 1960, and they have occupied a place of honor in the Dining Room ever since.

According to the records of the Beauvais manufactory, this tapestry was woven between September 1740 and May 1741. The design is based on a painting by Francois Boucher now in the Palais de Justice in Rouen, France, and it is the only version of the tapestry made from this pattern. Doris Duke bought the tapestry in New York in 1965 from the estate auction of Mrs. Alexander Hamilton Rice, whose Newport residence, Miramar, was just a few houses up Bellevue Avenue from Rough Point.

These four red damask wingchairs draw your attention when you enter the Great Hall. Although they have been on display at Rough Point for a century (according to a 1925 inventory of Rough Point, there were four "red damask wing back armchairs" in the Great Hall), they may be much older than that! Recent re-upholstery work revealed some intriguing clues to the history of these objects—and a mystery. They are crafted in the "William and Mary" style popular in the late-1600s, but much of the chairs today date to the 1970s when major parts of the interiors were reconstructed and the chairs were reupholstered.