A portrait drawing of an unidentified man on pink prepared paper. He is shown bust length, facing three-quarters to the right, wearing a hat and a bulky jacket. The drawing is in black and coloured chalks, and has been heavily worked up in two dilutions of ink, one deep black and the other grey. The grey was used first and the black added afterwards to refine the composition and to make the written notes about the sitter's dress.

The drawing is inscribed atlass (silk), at (for atlass, silk) twice, and S (for schwarz, meaning black, or satin) in Holbein's hand. 

A number of suggestions have been made for the identity of the sitter, among them Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk and Jean de Dinteville, the French ambassador painted by Holbein in 1533, but none of the suggestions so far offered is convincing. The drawing probably dates from around 1537 since it is on the same type of paper as that used by Holbein for his drawings of William Fitzwilliam, Earl of Southampton (RCIN 912206) and James Butler, later Earl of Ormond (RCIN 912263).

No painting after this drawing is known today, although one was recorded in a print by Wenceslaus Hollar when it was in the collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel. The print suggests the finished painting was a roundel (RCIN 803849).