Between the Covers

Hardcover. Sixth plate ambrotype portrait. Matted with preserver in original embossed leather case with purple-ish cut velvet pad. Image size approximately 3" x 3½". A couple of faint spots in the background, else the image is crisp and fine, the case is a bit rubbed but sound, very good or better. Image of a seated African-American woman, possibly in early middle-age, with a white cap and holding a white handkerchief. Subtle and tasteful pink tinting on her cheeks and a ring on one finger has been tinted gold. While the cap suggests that the subject may have been a domestic, the tinted gold ring might suggest otherwise. Otherwise unidentified, the mat and preserver suggest a date around 1856, provenance suggests that the image was likely taken in Maryland, which at the time had a large population of both free and enslaved African-Americans. A superb image.

Item #588299