I recently bought several silhouette busts from a long-time Southern collection. The collection included some surprises as I took them out of frames for cleaning. These silhouettes are a great opportunity to add to your collection or buy as holiday gifts at good prices.

This silhouette surprised me as I thought it was an unfinished American folk silhouette until I removed it from the frame and found it had been turned backwards. The lady has a hollow cut head and torso with her ruffed collar being uncut and embellished with pencil decoration including dots within the drawn frills. She has a spectacular bust line with a high arch at the back and straight for the front two-thirds. Her dress is edged in pink watercolor and she wears a high haircomb with inked hair curls. Stylus marks show that artist intended to cut a bow to the ribbon at top of her dress but changed his mind. The paper around stylus marks yellowed while marks stayed white showing an outline of the bow. She resides in a period brass spandrel frame with great early bubbly glass. She had been turned to hide the toning of the paper which I don’t find bothersome at all. Framed size is 4 3/8 x 5 3/4. The brass hanging loop is gone and someone has added wire to hang her. Besides the toning and small stains, there are a couple of nibbles of paper loss at the back of her hair comb. The price is a bargain for a silhouette like this! Circa 1830.

#5832    Sale Pending