Isn’t this a lovely woman in a beautiful dress?  When I think 1860’s, Civil War era, this is what comes to mind.  The huge skirt, with hoops, is the epitome of the time, but notice the jacket with matching scrolls from the bottom of the skirt – the entire outfit comes together with that pairing.  The hair is parted in the center and pulled back, as in the early 1860’s, but you can see an earring, and a ribbon, giving a little more decoration and leading towards the end of the decade.  Her bonnet is in the chair and she holds a parasol.

Because the dress is very fashionable, with more decoration than the early years of the decade, I would date this photo to about 1867-1868.

This is a small carte-de-visite, and on back is ‘photographed by A. Copsey, Sudbury, Suffolk’.  Just a little research led me to Ambrose Copsey, born about 1832, who married Mary Garwood.  By 1866 the couple and their children had moved to Sudbury.  More information, plus a photo of the artist and his wife can be found here.