Hint: Mouse over image for zoom and download controls

Elizabeth Graff [Murphey] Townsend and child ambrotype portrait, 1859
Elizabeth Graff [Murphey] Townsend and child ambrotype portrait, 1859
Elizabeth Graff [Murphey] Townsend and child ambrotype portrait, 1859
Elizabeth Graff [Murphey] Townsend and child ambrotype portrait, 1859
Comments and Tags (0)
Share
Download as PDF

Elizabeth Graff [Murphey] Townsend and child ambrotype portrait, 1859

Permanent ID:
5853
Date:
circa 1859
Image Description:
Image: 1/6 plate on purple ruby glass; Seated woman with hair parted smoothly in the center with little crimped ringlets that fall low behind the ears, wearing a dark dress, with a white whitework collar with fronts that do not meet, with a large brooch with a cameo of two figures at her throat, holding an infant in a short-sleeved white dress, color applied to both their cheeks, gold applied to her brooch, and over the shoulders of the child's dress. Preserver: Fancier with inward points at the corners (after 1858); with patriotic and military motifs of an American eagle in the top two corners, a rampant British lion in the bottom two corners, a U.S. flag crossed with a British Union Jack top center, a Liberty Shield at bottom center, a Liberty cap left center, and a scroll with a crown right center. Mat: Oval with matte finish and ornate (late 1850s). Case: Thermoplastic with common patriotic "Liberty 1" design (Berg No. 1-66) on the front, and a geometric design on the back, with a red velvet pinchpad [missing cushion] (1850-60s).
Inscription:
(ink on paper): Elizabeth Graff / (Murphey) Townsend / & child [recto]; #203 [verso] (Enclosed note)

(stamped in black ink): Littlefield, Parsons & Co., / (Successors to A. P. Critchlow & Co.,) / MANUFACTURERS OF / Daguerreotype Cases. / L., P. & Co. are the sole / Proprietors and only legal Manu- / facturers of UNION CASES, with the / Embracing Riveted Hinge. / Patented Oct. 14, 1856, / and April 21, 1857. (Paper lining inside case behind image package)
Format:
Ambrotype
Dimensions:
Width: 7.1 cm, Height: 8.3 cm (image)
Width: 2 25/32 in, Height: 3 9/32 in (image)
Width: 8.4 cm, Height: 9.5 cm, Depth: 2 cm (case)
Width: 3 1/4 in, Height: 3 3/4 in, Depth: 13/16 in (case)
Collection:
Historical Society of Pennsylvania cased photographs collection
Related People or Organizations:
Murphey, Elizabeth Graff (depicted)
Townsend, Isaac (relates to)
Littlefield, Parsons & Co. (Manufacturer)
Library of Congress Subjects:
Ambrotype [sh85004169]
Portrait photography--United States [sh2010107725]
Photographic industry [sh85101187]