The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel anchors this albumen stereoview, presented on a vivid canary-yellow card mount consistent with French production of the 1860s to 1870s. The arch was built between 1806 and 1808 to commemorate Napoleon's military victories in the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalitions, and it was originally intended as a monumental entrance to the Tuileries Palace. The photographer is unidentified, with no imprint visible on the mount.

The arch is photographed from a frontal, slightly oblique street-level vantage across the broad cobblestone expanse of the Place du Carrousel. The tall central arch is flanked by two smaller lateral arches, and eight Corinthian columns ring the exterior. Each column is surmounted by a statue of a soldier of the Napoleonic Empire dressed in regimental uniform. The quadriga crowning the attic story is clearly resolved in both frames, and wrought-iron gates and a sentry structure are visible at the base of the arch on the right side. Haussmann-era buildings fill the background on the left.

The proportions of the arch were drawn directly from the Arch of Septimius Severus in Rome, and Percier and Fontaine deliberately incorporated Corinthian columns in red and white marble, bas-reliefs depicting major events of the Napoleonic campaigns, and a chariot drawn by four horses at the summit. When the Tuileries Palace was destroyed by fire in 1871, the arch was left to stand on its own, opening an exceptional view toward the Champs-Élysées. The Tuileries still stands behind the arch in this image, placing the photograph before 1871.

Inscribed in pencil on the reverse in the upper left: "Le Carrouzel - Paris -" (The Carrousel - Paris -); additional pencil notations at right read "89" and "L08A2."