A young woman seated before a plain studio ground is the subject of this sixth plate daguerreotype, made at one of Jesse Harrison Whitehurst's multi-city gallery operations, active from 1843 through the late 1850s. The case velvet is embossed with the Whitehurst imprint listing New York, Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, and Lynchburg, firmly attributing this portrait to one of the most ambitious daguerreian enterprises in antebellum America. Whitehurst reportedly employed more than 30 assistants across his chain of galleries and produced upward of 30,000 images annually by 1850.

The sitter wears a close-fitting silk or wool dress with a long button placket running from collar to waist, white lace collar with a brooch at the throat, and white lace cuffs. A structured bonnet trimmed with white fabric or feather ornament sits atop dark hair styled away from the face, and drop earrings are visible at both ears. She holds a small bouquet of flowers in her gloved left hand while resting her right hand, bearing a ring, against a draped studio prop at her left side.

Jesse Harrison Whitehurst (c. 1819–1875) was among the most commercially innovative daguerreians of his era, operating galleries from Virginia to New York and exhibiting at both the American Institute and the Crystal Palace. His chain-gallery model, use of rotating studio backgrounds noted by critic H.H. Snelling, and scale of production were without parallel in American daguerreian practice of the 1840s and 1850s.

The Whitehurst studio imprint is embossed into the red velvet pad of the leather case, listing gallery cities including New York, Baltimore, Richmond, Norfolk, Petersburg, and Lynchburg. The brass mat frames the image within the gilt-edged case, the exterior of which bears an embossed starburst design with gilt border trim.

Property of a Palmer, Massachusetts gentleman.