Created in a time of high child mortality, this miniature may be a posthumous portrait of James T. Carroll. Details such as the child’s clothing and the hair on the reverse suggest that this miniature was commissioned as a memorial. His off-the-shoulder white shift is a type that often appears in posthumous portraits of children. The simple white shift is not something a child would typically wear in public but rather as sleepwear or an undergarment, suggesting illness and death.

An engine-turned lathe was used to lay down the regular, intricate engraving on the back of this locket. A lock of reddish-blond hair, likely belonging to the young boy portrayed in this miniature, has been woven into a decorative knot and preserved in an inset compartment. Surrounding the knot are two additional loops of brown and dark brown hair, likely belonging to the child’s parents, forever connecting a family that may have been separated by the premature death of this youngster. The boy’s initials, "JTC," are engraved below the compartment. Further details of this child’s life and identity have yet to be discovered, but the creation of this object indicates that James T. Carroll was loved and cherished.