Quarter plate ambrotype reproducing Lilly Martin Spencer’s sentimental genre painting Fi Fo Fum, circa 1858, featuring a mid-century domestic tableau of a father, mother, and their three children engaged in a lively moment of storytelling. A small cat in the lower left foreground adds further narrative detail. The ambrotype captures the theatrical quality and narrative intimacy of Spencer’s original composition, which was widely admired for its moral warmth and expressive characterizations.

The image is housed behind a pressed brass mat in a period case and is attributed to Judson of Newark, New Jersey. Spencer, one of the most prominent American women painters of the 19th century, was known for her humorous and affectionate portrayals of family life, and her works were frequently copied or adapted into photographic formats for popular consumption. This example stands out for its fidelity to the painting and its appeal as an intersection of fine art and early photographic reproduction.