An elderly woman seated in three-quarter pose fills this ninth plate daguerreotype, produced in the early 1840s at one of Richard Beard's studios in London. Early daguerreotypes intended for wall display were presented in black japanned papier-mâché frames with an ormolu mask and hanging ring with decorative escutcheon, and this example follows that signature format precisely. Most early Beard daguerreotypes are ninth-plate images, because the area of focus was limited with the Wolcott camera; early in 1843 Beard abandoned this apparatus for a camera with a Petzval lens that had a larger zone of focus, placing this portrait squarely in the studio's earliest years of operation.

The subject wears a dark dress with layered ruched bodice and a wide lace collar fastened at the throat with a gold brooch. A white lace cap frames her face, and her expression is composed and direct. She rests her right arm on the back of a chair, with a painted studio backdrop of draped fabric and architectural columns visible behind her.

Beard opened London's first studio on 23 March 1841 on the roof of the Royal Polytechnic Institution at 309 Regent Street, and the following year he opened two further London studios, one at 85 King William Street and the other at 34 Parliament Street. The earliest daguerreotype portrait studios in England had to be licensed by Beard, who held the patent rights on the daguerreotype process and was the proprietor of England's first photographic portrait studio.

The reverse bears a round paper dealer's label inscribed "752P / Cz.R / 40/-" and two additional inventory labels marked "PD265" and "PD554." The hanging ring is mounted at center top of the papier-mâché panel.