A bearded man sits for a sixth plate daguerreotype made by N. G. Johnson of Meadville, Pennsylvania, dated by the maker's label to circa 1855. Johnson operated in Meadville during the mid-1850s, and this portrait is a well-executed example of his studio work from that period. The image is housed in a leather case with an embossed floral and foliate exterior pattern and a red velvet pad opposite the plate.

The subject wears a dark frock coat with a wide velvet collar, a waistcoat, and a loosely knotted cravat over a white shirt with an open collar. His hair is full and dark, swept back with natural wave, and he carries a trimmed chin beard without a mustache. His expression is direct and composed, the bust-length pose centered against a plain light ground.

The gilt mat frames the plate cleanly, and the applied paper label at the lower edge of the mat reads "by N. G. Johnson, Meadville, Pa. 1855" in gilt lettering on a dark ground, providing a precise date and attribution that is unusually complete for a daguerreotype of this scale.

Property of a Palmer, Massachusetts gentleman.