An unknown man in shown at bust-length, facing slightly to the left, with his head tilted to the right against a blue-grey background. He is wearing a black hat and a black coat, open at the neck to reveal a white shirt, and in his hands he holds a child's toy, a puzzle trick known as 'flick-flack'. It consists of three or more rectangles of wood, held together by tapes in such a manner that a small object placed under the tapes may be made to vanish.

The inscription on the toy is not original, but the sitter’s intense facial expression and the strangeness of the attribute suggest that a specific meaning is intended, perhaps of mortality. The toy seen here is exactly matched in a picture of a naked child by Luini in the Proby Collection, Elton Hall. The figure of the man matches well with Licinio’s Man with an Antiphonary, signed and dated 1524 (City Art Gallery, York), although the York picture is on canvas.

Inscribed on the toy: CARPENDO CARPERIS IPSE, which means something like 'by plucking you yourself will be plucked'