Annotated Collected Hair Locks Stitched to Paper with Handwritten Names and Notes #1, 1866 striped uniforms with mother of pearl inlay

with mother of pearl inlay punctuated by a pattern of brass pique nails

The more finished drawing here is in crayon the flip side

I've never seen another like it

in four colors

an unusual and beautiful thing

Annotated Collected Hair Locks Stitched to Paper with Handwritten Names and Notes #1, 1866 striped uniforms with mother of pearl inlayThis came from a small collection of hair locks and wreaths I just purchased, all dating to the 1860s and all stitched to or tucked into bits of paper annotated with names and notes. I considered listing them as a collection, but realized much of what I find beautiful about these is their specificity and singularity in form and content (color, composition, etc.) and so am more inclined to treat them as individual drawings of sorts, and to hold them up