This three-quarter, seated view shows a soldier hatless and with legs crossed. The photographer has gilded some of the buttons on his open coat, shirt front and finger ring, and tinted his trousers light blue. The number of buttons on the coat indicates it is a sack coat and the three gilt buttons on each cuff indicate we are looking at a commercial, privately purchased officer’s sack coat, worn here without shoulder straps, something not unusual in photographs of officers in undress uniform.

The image is not glassed, resulting is some rubs to the subject’s knee, etc., and a shallow line of abrasion to the emulsion above his shoulder to the right that exposed the plate and now shows as a thin light brown, though it does not affect the figure. The image is matted with an excellent patriotic gilt brass mat embossed with oval frame with US flags in the upper corners, a drum and cannon at the bottom, and a ribbon scroll reading “THE UNION NOW AND FOREVER,” with the “now” part of the “and” hidden by crimped gilt brass floral frame around the image and mat. The mat is usually attributed to Holmes, Booth and Hayden” and dated 1861-1864, with the motto as a paraphrase of Daniel Webster response to the nullification crisis of 1829. Something thus fully appropriate to a photo of a Union officer.

This is cased in black leatherette case embossed with floral and geometric motifs, with hinge and hook in place, and with a orange-red velvet facing pad embossed with floral elements opposite the image.  [sr][ph:L]

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