Americana & Folk Art

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Great little American early 19th century hollow cut silhouette of a young woman wearing a ruffled collar and her hair held high with a hair comb.  This folky silhouette is simply but well-executed with delicate facial features, a slender neck and even a sash defining the bust termination of her small body.  The unknown artist accentuated this silhouette with pencil embellishment to enhance the hair, including curls atop her head and a bow or flower below her comb, and accentuate the ruffled collar.  This is a very small silhouette as the figure measures a mere 2" tall (most bust length silhouettes are 3 1/2" to 4 1/2" tall).  The background paper has a tiny bit of wrinkling and a few inconsequential stains.  Someone in this lady's past added powder to the paper in an apparent attempt to whiten the paper.  Why anyone found this necessary is beyond me since the paper has minimal toning.  I have brushed away most of the powder but a bit of residue remains between 12 and 1 o'clock.  You can see the residue in the photos where it shows up much more than it shows in real life.  The painted frame is of original size but has been repainted or perhaps just varnished over years.   It has the original, slightly wonky (in my vocabulary "wonky" means misshapen) brass hanging loop attached with wire driven into top of frame.  The frame measures 3 1/4" x 4 1/2".  Circa 1815.

(#4625)     $400    

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