In this painting the unknown Highland chief wears a helmet or clogad, one of the three traditional symbols of the Highland chief and warrior as recorded in an early seventeenth-century poem by Domhnaill MacIain ‘ic Sheumais. The other two symbols were the mail shirt and sword. This painting also shows the traditional belted plaid, a large piece of material that was used to clothe the upper and lower body. It was the precursor of the modern day kilt. Although the subject and artist of this portrait remain unknown, it has a remarkable similarity to the painting of Lord Mungo Murray (1668–1700), by John Michael Wright. This portrait is probably an early nineteenth-century copy, as we know that the family of its last owner purchased it in 1811.