Stereoscopic daguerreotype on Scovill plates presents a working gardener seated on an upturned basket in front of a dense display of nursery plants and clay pots. The sitter wears cap, coat, and apron, and holds a small specimen at the moment of potting. Hand coloring heightens the pinks of flowering plants and the varied greens of foliage, while the paired arched panels supply the slight left and right viewpoints required for viewing in a Brewster stereoscope. The daguerreotype was sold by Carpenter and Westley Opticians, 24 Regent Street, London.

Attribution to Thomas Richard Williams rests on subject, handling, and format associated with his London practice in the first half of the 1850s. Williams was among the most accomplished early makers of stereoscopic daguerreotypes and later paper stereographs, and he favored everyday occupational scenes staged with painterly care. The horticultural theme aligns closely with the period’s fascination with florists and nurserymen as the glasshouse craze and the trade in ornamental plants expanded across Victorian Britain.

Historical context deepens the image. Nurseries and urban florists supplied fuchsias, pelargoniums, roses, and ferns to a growing middle-class clientele, and studio pictures that honored skilled manual work had ready appeal. In the stereoscope the potted ranks step forward in convincing depth, the wicker and terracotta read with tactile clarity, and the sitter’s quiet concentration becomes the narrative core of the scene.