An interior with figures. In the middle ground are two men seated at a chess table. The man on the left wears a cap, a dark coat with a large velvet collar, and studies the chess board intently; in his right hand he holds a chess piece, and rests his head in his hand. His opponent also studies the board carefully: he is dressed in a large collared dark coat, and leans, arms folded, on the table. In the foreground is a round table on which are various chess pieces, a book, and a long stemmed pipe. The players are watched by two men. One, in the centre of the picture, looks down, and holds a book and pipe; the other, a bespectacled man, stands behind a drape on the left, holding a large cigar. This is in fact a portrait group of the Lonsdale family.