An oval mourning brooch with, on the left, against a background of rocks, a symbolic classical female figure facing right with arms raised. Over its head are a flying dove and the head and torso of a winged putto, pointing down to the right. Above are the words 'NOT LOST BUT GONE BEFORE'. The right side is blank, with indications of a cloud and an indeterminate shape that may bear the initials 'BA'. The whole leaves the impression that something else should have been inserted on the right, possibly a portrait or perhaps a lock of hair now missing.

The design is in sepia or brown watercolour on a hard surface that has marginal cracks, possibly a very thin mineral material, and is within a gold frame with a blue-glass cloisonné edging, although parts of the glass infill are now missing. The backplate is inscribed 'In Memory of Henry Bryne of the Andromeda', the inscription being inverted in respect to the image, and has extended pierced flanges at top and bottom. The lower one seen from the image side is damaged but they suggest the item was originally made to be sewn into a fabric backing. Given the inversion of the inscription, this may have been in the form of a hanging flap, lifted up to read the message (like a traditional nurse's watch, worn upside down on the breast so visible to the wearer when lifted).

Henry Bryne was captain of the 28-gun frigate 'Andromeda' (a sixth-rate, built 1777) and drowned in October 1780 when she was lost in a West Indies hurricane.