Powerful and haunting post-mortem portrait of a young child, captured in death with remarkable serenity. This quarter plate tintype shows the child laid out in a long dress, hands clasped at the waist, resting on a patterned settee with head on a pillow. The photographer has composed the scene with dignity and tenderness, evoking the sentimentality and mourning practices of the mid-19th century. The clarity and contrast of the plate are striking, with fine detail in the face and costume.

Housed in a rare and beautiful “Harvest Motif” thermoplastic case (Berg 1-25), featuring detailed high-relief imagery of wheat bundles, farming tools, and a spinning wheel—symbols of labor, home, and the cycle of life and death. The case is in excellent condition with strong hinges and deep gloss.

These early post-mortem portraits are among the most emotionally evocative forms of 19th-century photography, produced at a time when photography was often the only means to preserve a likeness. A moving and beautifully presented example of this important and highly sought-after genre.