Two unidentified women pose together in a studio albumen portrait attributed to Wm. B. White of Rochelle, Illinois, a format and imprint style consistent with the late 1870s to early 1880s. The seated woman holds an open stereo graphoscope across her lap with a stereoview facing the camera. The standing woman rests her arm on the chair back and holds what appears to be a stereoview card. The pink-bordered mount and plain tonal ground are characteristic of the period.
The seated subject wears a dark bustle-style dress with tiered ruffle hem, a decorative brooch at the collar, and a pendant necklace, while her companion is dressed in a fitted dark gown with fur trim at the sleeve and a high ruffled neckline accented by a cross pendant. A tasseled chair with fringe-trimmed footstool anchors the center of the composition, and both women direct steady, unsmiling gazes toward the camera.
The stereoscope case and viewer held by the seated figure are a particularly uncommon prop for a CDV portrait, suggesting a personal or professional connection to the medium. The reverse bears the imprint of Wm. B. White, Rochelle, Illinois, with a decorative oval vignette, and penciled notations reading LDBC1 and 2/02 at the lower margin.
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