An unidentified man photographed in death, laid out on a bed of ice to slow decomposition before burial, is the subject of this quarter plate daguerreotype attributed to the Boston studio of Southworth and Hawes. No photographer's imprint is present on the plate itself. The attribution and dating derive from the plate's documented history within the Southworth and Hawes archive rather than from any inscription on the case.

The man lies on his back atop a pillow and sheet, his head turned in profile with eyes closed and a cloth bound beneath his chin to hold the jaw closed. A mound of ice is positioned beside the body, and the drapery beneath him shows the sheen produced by dampness from the melting ice.

Southworth and Hawes operated their Boston studio from 1843 to 1863 and are recognized among the first great masters of American photography, producing identified portraits, family groups, and a distinct postmortem category alongside their commercial work. The bulk of their surviving plates remained with Hawes until his death in 1901 before passing through family hands and a Boston print shop, and a previously unknown group of 240 Southworth and Hawes daguerreotypes, including this plate, surfaced from the estate of collector David Feigenbaum and was sold at Sotheby's New York on April 27, 1999.

The plate carries the collector's inventory number A01392, assigned prior to its sale, and was lot 11 in Sotheby's April 27, 1999 Feigenbaum sale in New York. It is housed in a conservation package prepared by Grant Romer, then head of conservation at the George Eastman House, whose team readied the Feigenbaum plates for that sale.