An unidentified infant is depicted in this post-mortem tintype, a funerary photographic practice widely observed in the nineteenth century as a means of memorializing children who died in early life. The subject is positioned reclined on a chair with eyes closed, head tilted slightly back, with the composition centered to present the child with quiet formality. No photographer's imprint is visible, and no maker attribution can be confirmed.

The infant wears a white christening-style gown with smocked or gathered detailing at the chest and short sleeves, and small dark leather shoes are visible at the lower right. The child rests atop what appears to be a fringed blanket or coverlet laid across a cushioned chair, with dark fabric visible in the background behind the head. A partially obscured adult figure is faintly present at the left edge of the frame.

Post-mortem photography of infants and children reached its height of domestic practice in the United States and Britain between roughly 1840 and 1900, serving as the sole photographic record families would retain of a child lost in infancy. A small paper label remnant is affixed to the lower front of the tintype.