A young child standing on a chair, steadied by a mother whose presence is reduced to a hand resting on the child's head and the edge of a satin bow behind them, is the subject of this sixth plate daguerreotype, housed in its original thermoplastic Union case. No photographer's imprint is visible on the plate. A period pencil inscription on the case's velvet pad identifies the sitter as Little Mary, followed by a surname and the date 1859.

The child wears a light colored tunic dress with a dropped waist over dark trousers or a underskirt, striped stockings, and dark shoes, one hand holding a small folded card or booklet. The mother's dark dress is visible only as drapery and a decorative bow behind the child, her hand pressed gently against the child's head to hold the pose steady through the exposure. The gilt brass mat surrounding the oval opening is stamped with a scalloped shell border.

This composition follows the hidden mother convention common in mid nineteenth century portraiture of very young children, in which a parent steadied the sitter for the length of the exposure while remaining largely concealed or cropped from view. The case itself carries the printed trade label of A. P. Critchlow and Co, manufacturers of daguerreotype cases, who identified themselves as the original inventors of the Union case composition and its riveted hinge, patented October 14, 1856.

The velvet pad bears the manufacturer's printed trade card along with the handwritten inscription Little Mary, a surname, and the date 1859, appearing twice on the pad in period ink.