Such a curious one on numerous levels. First is the strange image itself, titled "toilet of girl" on the bottom short edge of the slide, in which this very classical looking beauty is being attended to by another beautiful young woman, who towers over her as if from another world--and, honestly, appears as much as anything as if she might be diligently grooming the other of lice! And then, I believe product of a reaction that occurred over time (I have seen it on a few ambrotypes), is this all over seaweed sort of pattern on the glass, giving it all a rather magical and even more otherworldly feeling. The pattern is more visible from certain angles that others, like a ghost, and perfectly complimentary I think to the pink and purple hand-coloring of the image. Wonderfully strange.
4" x 5" x 7/16" overall. There are a few thin black that appear part of the image but I think must also be product of deterioration.