Oval ninth plate daguerreotype housed in an ornate pendant locket frame with a finely chased border and attached suspension ring. The image depicts a primitive painted portrait of a man in profile, facing right. Rendered in stark black and white tones, the painted subject appears to wear a high-collared white shirt and dark coat, his features minimally but expressively articulated. The daguerreotype captures the texture of the original artwork, including brushwork and tonal transitions, offering a rare example of early photographic reproduction of painted likenesses.

Daguerreian portraits made from existing painted images were occasionally commissioned in the 1840s and early 1850s, often to preserve deteriorating family portraits or to provide portable miniatures of larger and less manageable originals. This example may have originated from such a commission, possibly documenting a now-lost or inaccessible oil painting. The execution of the photograph retains subtle hand-applied highlights to reinforce the image’s dimensionality, further blending the boundaries between photography and folk portraiture.

The verso of the locket features a stunning array of machine-turned and engine-engraved geometric patterns radiating around a central oval recess, likely intended for a lock of hair or a monogram. The crispness of the metalwork contrasts elegantly with the image’s soft fidelity to the primitive original, making the piece not only an artifact of early photographic technique but also an object of decorative craftsmanship. Locket daguerreotypes of painted subjects are scarce, particularly when paired with such elaborately worked metal surrounds.