A seated fencer poses for this sixth plate English ambrotype, almost certainly dating from the late 1850s to mid-1860s, when the process was at its commercial height. He holds a walking stick or foil grip in his right hand while two épées with cord-wrapped grips and swept bell guards rest across a small side table to his left, accompanied by a fencing mask, the full ensemble deliberately arranged to announce his sport.

The subject wears a light sack coat over a bold houndstooth waistcoat, a loosely knotted cravat, and striped trousers, projecting an air of prosperous leisure rather than formal dress. An amber-tinted watch chain curves across the waistcoat front, and the man's wire-rimmed spectacles and thick mustache give him a composed, direct gaze toward the camera. Nestled between his knees, a dark-coated dog looks upward with its head raised just into frame, a detail as rare as it is charming in occupational portraiture of this period.

The combination of two épées and a fencing mask posed as attributes, alongside the sitter's relaxed civilian dress, suggests a serious amateur or a fencing master recording his credentials rather than a formal military portrait. The épée as a dedicated training weapon was taking hold in England precisely during the ambrotype era, making this a document of both a sporting culture and a photographic moment.

Housed in a full leather case with embossed foliate and cartouche decoration to the exterior and an orange-red embossed velvet pad to the interior left.