Picture Frame for baking

ToRuKMactO

Hi fellows, I'm in need of ideas to model a picture frame for a church I'm working on. I want to do something beautiful that will be above the altar, 
I would like some help with the frame silhouette, I'm used to start with LowPoly and don't have sufficient knowledge and practice to do details by hand. Follow the example

What would be a good way to start the geometry ?? The standard way of giving the shape to the object and then sculpt it seems a bit confusing, I'm leaving a video illustrating more or less what I intend to do. Thx a lot Guys !!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzKKW37awio

Eric Chadwick

The pattern is basically mirrored 8x around the frame, so you don't have to model all that much.

I would suggest using subdivision surface modeling for the larger fleur-de-lys forms, and paint displacement or normal maps for the smaller details.

http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Subdivision_Surface_Modeling