Unknown young woman

Ambrotype of an unknown young woman sitting with her right hand raised to her face. She is looking slightly to the right and is holding flowers in her left hand. She is wearing a dress with a lace collar. The ambrotype is mounted in a dark leather case with a red velvet interior. The name of the photographic studio is embossed in gold on the back of the case. Ambrotypes were made using the wet collodion process. By the late 1850s the ambrotype was overtaking the daguerreotype in popularity due to its much cheaper production cost.