A full-length portrait photograph of an unnamed female Maori servant looking towards the camera. She is wearing a loose shirt with a patterned folded sash across her right shoulder and tied below the left arm at the waist where the ends drape down in tassles. Her long full pale skirt with a square patttern to it reaches to the floor. She has a long cloth similar to a tartan draped over her right arm.

The photograph is captioned 'Maori Servant'.

Frederick North was Assistant Paymaster on board HMS Barrosa (1860), a wooden screw corvette, while it was part of the Royal Navy Flying (Detached) Squadron that sailed from England in June 1869. The squadron visited New Zealand, arriving at Lyttleton on 16 January 1870, although Barrosa arrived at Wellington on 25 January from Melbourne. The Squadron left New Zealand around 10 February 1870.