A sixth plate ambrotype portrait of an unidentified seated woman is housed in a rare thermoplastic case whose front and back covers each bear a bold molded relief portrait of Benvenuto Cellini, the celebrated Italian Renaissance sculptor and goldsmith, rendered in right-facing profile within an oval medallion set against a crosshatched ground. The thermoplastic construction, dense dark brown in tone, dates this case to the American market of the 1850s and 1860s, when molded portrait cases featuring famous historical and artistic figures enjoyed a distinct collecting vogue. The interior retains its original gilt brass mat with a chevron-bordered oval aperture and a salmon-colored fabric surround, opposite a purple velvet pad embossed with a scrolling foliate device.

The subject is a young woman posed in three-quarter length, her hands folded and resting at her waist, wearing a dark silk dress with puffed short sleeves, a wide white lace or lawn collar, and a bracelet visible at her left wrist. Her dark hair is parted at the center and drawn back in a style consistent with the late 1850s. Her expression is composed and her gaze directed slightly off-axis from the lens.

Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571) is best known for his autobiography, his gold and enamel saltcellar made for Francis I of France, and his bronze Perseus with the Head of Medusa in Florence. His profile, drawn from Renaissance-era portrait medals, was among the more ambitious decorative subjects pressed into American thermoplastic cases of the period, making this an uncommon and collectible housing.

Property of a Palmer, Massachusetts gentleman.