An albumen silver print cabinet card produced by Elmer Chickering at 21 West Street, Boston, whose imprint appears in script on the lower front of the mount. Chickering was among the most prominent portrait photographers in Boston during the 1880s and 1890s, known for his work with notable public figures. The subject is P. T. Barnum, the American showman and circus promoter, depicted here in a three-quarter bust portrait turned slightly to his left, his gaze directed upward and away from the camera. Barnum is shown in old age, with a full head of white curly hair, heavy-lidded eyes, and a broad, fleshy face with a relaxed expression. He wears a dark formal coat with wide lapels, a white shirt, and a loosely tied white cravat at the throat. The image is a close and flattering composition, the face well lit and sharply rendered against a plain light ground with no backdrop detail visible. The reverse carries an elaborately printed design in dark ink featuring Chickering's name in bold diagonal script beneath a large ornate flourished monogram, with the studio address rendered in decorative letterforms. A printed notice at the bottom states that the negative is preserved for future orders and can be reduced for locket size or enlarged to life size and finished in crayon, ink, or watercolor, standard language for high-end Boston portrait studios of the period.