In the early part of the twentieth century, often times people sat for photos at a photographer's studio. There were painted backdrops, prop chairs, small pieces of furniture, etc. Photographs were also often printed as 3½" x 5½" postcards - a picture on the back, and space for a message and the address on the front.
I just came across a picture that was exactly as you've described here - it was a very old photo set up the same way, and made as a postcard. No writing was on it, unfortunately...but I think it was just of a family friend.
I have a few of them, too. Here's one of them; its my maternal great grandmother circa 1900. She would have had seven of her eleven children by this time (she was about 31-32 years old then):
Young Vito Corleone was coming to America about this time.... My great grandmother could have been one of the immigrants on the Moshulu with him.
