Stereoscopic daguerreotype, enclosed in black tape and black mat with curved tops. A still life arrangement composed of a skull, hour-glass, open book, spectacles, candle-holder, and dividers; the skull and a key stand on a small chest. Another version of the same still life, without the chest, is 48578; a card version is known signed 'TRW'. Such arrangements were typical of the photographer T. R. Williams (see 39084 and 32512), and of the moral or symbolic themes fashionable at the time.
