A painting of a seated woman titled "Meditation" appears in an albumen photograph mounted on a CDV-format advertising card issued by Geo. H. Ireland and Co., proprietors of the Boston 99 Cent Store on High Street in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The image appears to be a reproduction of a painted or engraved composition rather than a studio portrait, printed directly onto the card face as a commercial promotional device likely dating to the 1870s or 1880s.
The woman is shown in profile facing left, her dark hair pinned up and ornamented, wearing a full-skirted light gown with gathered fabric at the back. She is seated in a carved open-arm chair and holds fabric in her lap, with a sculpted female bust visible behind her to the left, suggesting an artistic or allegorical interior setting.
The Boston 99 Cent Store was a variety retail concept operating in several Massachusetts locations during the post-Civil War era, using novelty CDV advertising cards as a promotional tool to attract customers with illustrated imagery alongside merchandise listings.
The reverse carries a densely printed advertisement listing fancy goods, silverplate, china ware, stereoscopes, musical instruments, books, and mantle clocks all priced at 99 cents, with a penciled notation reading "5/31/08" and "20BC2" at the bottom.
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