An unframed tintype approximating CDV size presents an unidentified mother and infant posed together in a studio setting, likely dating to the 1870s or 1880s based on the woman's dress and hat styling. The infant sits propped upright on the seat of a heavily upholstered parlor chair draped with a dark patterned textile, while the woman leans in from the right in profile, her gaze directed warmly toward the child. No photographer's imprint is visible.

The infant wears a white knit or smocked gown with long sleeves, bare feet extending forward on the chair cushion. The mother steadies the child with one hand at the seat edge, her wrist adorned with a dark bracelet. She wears a dark structured dress with a checked or striped skirt, and a small flat-topped hat trimmed with ribbon or velvet sits atop her upswept hair.

The composition places the child as the primary subject, with the mother partially cropped at the right edge, a common studio technique used to conceal a steadying adult during infant portraiture of the period.