Billie Mottie, a young Native American girl, is portrayed in a full-length studio composition on this cabinet card attributed to D. A. Markey, Photo Artist. The styling of the mount's pink reverse, the imprint's ornate scroll-and-botanical cartouche, and the albumen print process all point to production in the 1880s or early 1890s, consistent with the southwestern ethnographic portrait tradition of that period.

She stands barefoot before a staged desert backdrop incorporating a yucca plant at left and a gnarled log prop at right, wearing a loose long-sleeved blouse over a wide tiered skirt with bold alternating dark and light horizontal bands. In her left hand she holds a bundle of decorated fringe and what appears to be a small beaded ornament, while her right hand rests on a woven basket bowl balanced atop the log prop, beside a hanging beaded or fringed ceremonial item.

The name "Billie Mottie" is inscribed in a cursive hand along the lower image border, accompanied by the catalog number 39, indicating this card was part of a numbered series. The reverse carries the printed imprint of D. A. Markey, Photo Artist, on a pink mount, with a penciled notation reading "A4 / 500" in the upper right corner.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer