Two Native American women occupy the full frame of this CDV-format tintype, seated close together before a painted studio backdrop featuring a loosely rendered tree at right. The image dates to the latter nineteenth century and was produced by an unidentified photographer; no imprint appears on the reverse.

Both women wear heavily striped blankets or trade cloth wraps draped over their shoulders, and each carries additional textile across the lap. The woman at right wears large circular shell or disc earrings, multiple strands of beadwork at the throat, and a metal bracelet visible at her wrist. The woman at left wears smaller pendant earrings and a beaded choker, her wrap featuring a bold geometric woven pattern.

CDV-format tintypes of this type were produced in considerable numbers during the 1870s and 1880s, when studio portraiture became more accessible at frontier and reservation-adjacent towns throughout the American West. The direct, unguarded gaze of both sitters gives the portrait an unusual presence and documentary weight.

The reverse bears no photographer's imprint or inscription.

From the collection of James Lee Soffer