Artist unknown

Singer--dancer with hands on chair, San Francisco 1855

5 x 7"

This tintype depicts a woman dressed in a long black dress posed against a backdrop, her hands resting on a chair. The photograph itself is nestled within an arch-shaped frame. Tintypes, also called ferrotypes, were a photographic technique most popular during the 1860’s and 1870’s. Tintypes worked by processing an image on metal rather than glass. They were more durable, less expensive, and developed faster than daguerreotypes.

1855

Gift of Dr. Bancroft

1995.335