An elegantly dressed Black man and woman stand facing and looking at us, slightly smiling, in a room in this vertical photograph. The image is monochromatic like a black and white photograph but is printed in warm tones of golden and dark browns. To our left, the man has short-cropped hair and is cleanshaven. He has dark eyes, a rounded nose, and his lips are closed in a slight smile. He wears a three-piece tuxedo and holds a bowler hat and cane in his right hand, on our left. He pulls his suit jacket back to hook his other thumb in his vest pocket. He wears rings on each of his pinky fingers and a chain crosses his vest, tucked into the same pocket as his thumb. The woman stands with her left hand, on our right, on her hip and her other hand resting on the man’s shoulder. She has a delicate nose, dark eyes, and her closed lips turn up slightly at the corners. She has a cheek-length bob haircut and wears dangling earrings and a necklace with a pendant. Her ankle-length, sleeveless dress is beaded with geometric and scrolling patterns. Some of the beads and the ring she wears on the third finger of the hand on her hip catch and reflect the light. An upholstered chair sits to our left and a wood side table with an urn filled with flowers and a telephone stands to our right. The telephone has a conical earpiece hanging from a stand with a flaring mouthpiece. The backdrop behind the people has a painted or wallpapered section to our left and an arch leading to a curtained window to our right. Parts of the photograph are noticeably out of focus, particularly in the background and the flowers. The artist signed the work with white letters against the dark shadows under the seat of the chair, near the lower left corner: “VAN DER ZEE NYC 1924.”