Sixth Plate hand-tinted ambrotype of a photographer posed with a camera. [Philadelphia]: [Isaac] Rehn, ca 1854. Brass mat stamped "Ambrotype by Rehn 260 Chestnut St." and "Patented July 4 & 11, 1854." 

Isaac Rehn first appeared in Philadelphia city directories in 1845 as a painter, but transitioned to photography when he traveled to Boston in 1849 and became the partner of daguerreotypist James A. Cutting. He and Cutting were at the forefront of photographic developments, with Rehn now a part-owner of several photographic processes including a wet collodion process used in ambrotype production. He is listed as a photographer in Philadelphia city directories from 1850 to 1861 and is widely credited with creating the first ambrotypes produced in the United States. 

The subject, though unidentified, is assuredly a photographer and possibly Rehn himself. He looks directly at the lens and poses next to a camera, his hand on the box as though readying his instrument. 

An excellent Rehn portrait. 

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