Margaret Brown with cat daguerreotype, 1860
Margaret Brown with cat daguerreotype, 1860
Margaret Brown with cat daguerreotype, 1860

Margaret Brown with cat daguerreotype, 1860


Permanent ID:
6836
Date:
circa 1855
Image Description:
Image: 1/4 plate; Girl standing beside a cloth covered posing table upon which sits a small cat, the girl's chin length hair parted in the center and tucked behind her ears, she is wearing a shoulder-baring dress with short sleeves with frilled edges, a long waist dipped at the front, a skirt with two growth tucks, and white pantalettes, with laced shoes. Preserver: Straight, narrow, embossed with simple pattern (after 1850). Mat: Nonpariel with sandy finish (1840s). Case: Leather covered wood frame embossed with a a common Vase With Fruits and Flowers design [Plate 108 on page 110 of "American Miniature Case Art" by Floyd and Marion Rinhart (Cranbury, New Jersey: A. S. Barnes and Co., Inc., 1969)] on the front and back, with exterior and interior gilded edge trim, a red velvet pinchpad, and a red velvet cushion embossed with a floral design (ca. 1856).
Inscription:
(pencil on paper): N.B. THE 2 SMALLER PHOTOS SEEM TO BE AMBROTYPES (ink on paper): THESE THREE DAGUERREOTYPES ARE OF SAME GIRL / MARGARET BROWN OF PARIS, KENTUCKY / BORN ABOUT 1846; DIED ABOUT 1866 / MARRIED BENJAMIN D. ESTILL IN 1861 (A GREAT FUSS / MADE ABOUT THIS BECAUSE OF THE YOUTH OF THE COUPLE) / HAD CHILD, RICHARD WALLACE ESTILL, BORN 1863, WHO / GREW UP AND CHANGED HIS NAME TO JAY CURRIE THOMPSON (Accompanying envelope (likely enclosure from donor))
Format:
Daguerreotype
Dimensions:
Width: 8.2 cm, Height: 10.7 cm (image)
Width: 3 7/32 in, Height: 4 7/32 in (image)
Width: 9.5 cm, Height: 11.8 cm, Depth: 1.9 cm (case)
Width: 3 3/4 in, Height: 4 21/32 in, Depth: 3/4 in (case)
Collection:
Historical Society of Pennsylvania cased photographs collection
Related People or Organizations:
Margaret Brown, 1846-1866 (depicted)
Richard Wallace Estill, 1863 (relates to)
Benjamin D. Estill (relates to)
Library of Congress Subjects:
Daguerreotype [info:lc/authorities/subjects/sh85035408]
Portrait photography--United States [info:lc/authorities/subjects/sh2010107725]
Photography of children [info:lc/authorities/subjects/sh85101337]