You know I love a photograph of an earlier photo, and a photograph of an earlier painted portrait too: technological innovations, such as the invention of the tintype, enabled the production of inexpensive copies, and hence an easier carrying forward of the past into the future. (Such richness in moments of transition and translation from one medium to another I always think.) This though is I believe is the first cabinet card I've seen capturing a punch paper needlework (looks like a small one, perhaps made as a bookmark): a portrait of a specific home, the birth place of its maker surely, with the photo taken I presume primarily as a means of holding on to a piece of family history (as opposed to out of great admiration for the needlework.) I love the idea that a folk needlework should serve as a meaningful document of sorts, and also the distinguishment of Birth Place from, say, family home--bringing one back to imagining the story of the woman who made the house portrait.
6 7/16" x 4 1/4" and in very good condition. The card to which the photograph is mounted in a dark forest green.
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