I don't know a ton about the history of photography, but this portrait strikes me as fairly unusual...sort of in between an old silhouette and an early studio photograph. On the back is printed Yeaw & Co, from Lawrence, MA, which I have found a fair amount about and attributed to online, including a 1850-60s photo featuring a group of likely abolitionists standing in front of Harriet Beecher Stowe's home in Andover. It seems Albin Yeaw established himself as a daguerreotype artist in the mid 1850s, and was subsequently listed as an ambrotypist, photographer, and, later, deputy sheriff! M.H. Lufkin was his business partner, listed at various times as both a photographer and as a portrait and landscape painter.
Anyway, I believe this portrait dates to the mid 19th century or so and I find myself returning to it again and again; I really like this woman, who seems kind but maybe also rather stern...maybe forever preserved in the moment just before she actually cracks a smile!??
2 1/2" x 4". Very good antique condition with light spotting. I believe this is a carte de visite, a thin albumen print mounted onto a cardboard backing.
