Description:
Silhouettes were the most expedient and inexpensive form of portraiture available to New Englanders in the early 19th century. Profiles were so cheap, costing about ten cents apiece, that an artist's profit was dependent on making them as quickly as possible. A profile silhouette of a man facing right, he has a coat, ruffles, and a cravat, silhouette is cut from paper and placed on a layer of black textile possibly silk, the portrait is framed in an oval pressed and gilt brass frame of overlapping leaves, curved cavetto molding, and a milled edge border. A modern paper label on the back of the paper backboard reads, "From Mrs. George Ingalls./ VI/ Esther E. Meyers." and in pencil "E. Meyers."

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https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2015.36.49

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