A young tradesman posed proudly among the tools and products of his craft is captured in this CDV by E. S. Bunce, Photographer, Mondovi, Wisconsin, dating to the 1870s or 1880s. The composition is a deliberate occupational portrait, arranged to display the subject's trade identity as fully as his physical likeness, a practice common among skilled craftsmen of the period who used photography to document their professional standing.

The man sits on a wooden saddle or harness vise, wearing a striped apron over a short-sleeved work shirt with suspenders, holding a curved stitching or skiving tool in his right hand. Behind him a workbench holds a dense row of handled awls, knives, and leather tools laid out in careful order, and a large collar harness or horse collar is mounted on the wall above, flanked by additional straps and bridle hardware. His expression is direct and composed, his mustache neatly trimmed.

Occupational CDVs of this type, in which the subject arranged their tools and trade goods as deliberate props, are among the most collectible examples of the format, offering a rare window into the working lives of nineteenth-century American craftsmen. The subject is unidentified.

The reverse bears the printed imprint of E. S. Bunce, Photographer, Mondovi, Wisconsin, with the additional notations "Children's pictures, a Specialty" and "Negatives Preserved."