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Original antique framed portrait of a young woman, likely dating approximately c. 1890-1910.
The portrait appears to be a period crayon or charcoal-enhanced photographic enlargement, a late-19th and early-20th-century portrait process in which an enlarged photographic image was artistically finished by hand.
The portrait is presented in an elaborate later period frame with an oval burgundy/maroon surround, raised gilt oval liner, gilt floral corner ornaments, dark contrasting inner border, and substantial molded wood outer frame.
An important surviving label on the reverse identifies the framer as:
The Fine Arts Shop
126 Thirty-Second St.
Newport News, Virginia
Picture Framing – Antiques – Gifts – Prints and Objets d’Art
The Fine Arts Shop was established in 1945 and later moved from its earlier Newport News location by the mid-1970s, indicating that this portrait was likely reframed or remounted there sometime between approximately 1945 and 1975.
The portrait itself appears considerably earlier than the framing and is believed to date from approximately c. 1890-1910.
Country of origin: United States
Portrait date: approximately c. 1890-1910
Frame / remount date: approximately 1945-1975
Framer: The Fine Arts Shop, Newport News, Virginia
Medium: Crayon / charcoal-enhanced photographic portrait
Subject: Young woman
Condition shows substantial age-related wear including fading and toning to the portrait, wear to the frame, and deterioration and losses to the original rear paper/cardboard backing. The historic Fine Arts Shop label remains present and legible.
No sitter or original photographer attribution is currently known.
Please review all photographs carefully for exact condition and presentation.
Sold exactly as photographed.
