Not much more than a toddler, this shy terribly sweet smiling boy is as delightful a portrait miniature as can be. Still protected beneath the original convex and highly polished cover glass, the outer frame is only 2" x 1 1/2", his face just 5/8" from that tucked chin to his hairline. There's something in this one which feels to me like the portrait of a woman, a mother, and possibly the mother of this child. There's a hint of Berthe Morisot, or Mary Cassatt in this one. The added color, and yet he's difficult to date. I feel accurate if I say he's c.1880 to as late as 1910. Earlier likelier than later.
Very good to excellent condition, I took some photos before I opened up the frame mount to photograph him, and I can see more clearly in our enlarged images that the surface of the cover glass wasn't very clean. It is now! Thick convex and polished cover glass is actually still sealed with the thin natural wafer and painting inside it and the old backing, so there isn't dust inside. There is a foil layer behind the wafer which pushes light through the painting. Just a beautiful little captured moment of childhood, isn't it.
