Zanne and Zanobia, a performing duo billed as bicycle artists, are portrayed in this CDV produced by Charles Eisenmann at his celebrated studio at 229 Bowery, New York. Eisenmann was the preeminent photographer of circus, sideshow, and variety performers in the late nineteenth century, and this image dates to the period of his greatest output, roughly the 1880s into the early 1890s. The reverse notation reading "the American Canonical Fan. Clippie, 14" alongside the penciled names places this card within a collector's or promotional archive.

Both women wear short ruffled performance costumes with floral trim at the waist, their legs bare above tall lace-up boots. They pose atop a large-wheeled bicycle, bodies turned toward each other and heads nearly touching, each resting a foot on the wheel's spokes in a staged acrobatic attitude. Their expressions are direct and assured, consistent with professional promotional portraiture.

Bicycle acts were a fashionable variety and circus specialty during the 1880s, and female performers who combined cycling with acrobatics or theatrical costuming appeared regularly on American and European stages during the height of the penny-farthing era. The reverse reads "Zanne Zanobia" in pencil at top, with the additional notation running vertically along the right edge, and carries the printed Eisenmann imprint with the line "This Picture is printed by Electric Light."

From the collection of James Lee Soffer