The painting is in excellent condition, and is housed in its original silver and embossed tortoise shell frame. The shell portion has two unimportant splits, visible at 6 and 9 o'clock in the photo. Sight size of this little gem is 1 7/8 inches by 1 1/2 inches, while the frame size is 3 3/8 inches by 3 inches.

Mlle Hyacinth Mercier worked as a miniaturist in Paris, living at 27 rue Neuve Saint Rochet. She exhibited at the Salon in 1808 and 1810. Her technique most often employed cross-hatched stippled lines, as was the case with others influenced by the work of Louis François Aubry, a well known and important presence in French art at the time. Mercier's biography appears in volume 3 of Schidlof's work on European miniatures, .