Madame Sherwood, billed as the "Giant Lady," is the subject of this albumen carte de visite produced by Charles D. Fredricks & Co. at their celebrated "Specialité" studio at 587 Broadway, New York. The presence of a two-cent proprietary revenue stamp on the reverse dates the photograph to the period of the Civil War-era tax on photographs, placing it between 1864 and 1866. Fredericks was among the most prominent commercial photographers in nineteenth-century America, and his studio frequently produced cartes of sideshow and exhibition performers.

Sherwood is seated and faces the camera directly, wearing a dark off-the-shoulder gown with multiple tiers of ruffled and pleated skirts that spread widely across her lap. A decorative lace and beaded headdress crowns her dark hair, and she wears a beaded necklace, a brooch at her neckline, and a bracelet on her wrist. A folded textile accessory rests across her hands in her lap.

The printed caption below the image reads: "MADAME SHERWOOD, Giant Lady. Height, 5 feet 8 inches; 7 feet around the waist, and 24 inches around the arm. Aged 31 years. Weight 675 pounds." The reverse bears the studio imprint of Charles D. Fredricks & Co., "Specialité," 587 Broadway, New York, along with a two-cent blue proprietary revenue stamp.