This antique cabinet card photograph features a pretty young woman identified in pencil on the reverse as Mabel Graham, photographed by Washington Boyce of Danville, Illinois. Mabel is shown standing in an elegant studio setting beside a large decorative planter filled with leaves and flowers. To her left is a painted or constructed architectural column prop, adding a formal Victorian parlor atmosphere to the portrait. She wears a fitted late-19th-century dress with a high collar, dark pleated front panel, closely tailored sleeves, and a striking vertical row of light-colored decorative buttons down the bodice. Her hair is arranged high on her head in a fashionable Victorian style, and she faces the camera with a serious, composed expression. The photographer, Washington Boyce, is an interesting figure in the history of regional photography, having been referenced in connection with an 1894 Illinois breach-of-contract case involving the sale of a photographic studio and a non-compete clause. He was also noted in an 1886 photographic journal for holding a patent connected to an innovative photographic paper box. This cabinet card is a nice example of his Danville studio work. SOLD
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
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