UNDATED – Portrait of Emma Schubert wearing an impressive Edwardian hat in a photo studio in the USA. © Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com
The story behind the image
This very small CdV caught my eye because of its unusual format. It is square, and mounted to a thin square cardboard that measures 2.8 x 2.8 Inches. And the photo itself is tiny – just about 1.25 x 1.33 Inches. The cardboard itself has rich ornaments surrounding the image and acts as a bold frame for the image. Sadly, it does neither carry the name or location of the photographer, nor its creation date.
The back of the photo, however, has handwritten comments, written by two different people:
Emma Frehse Germany
Emma Schubert in Amerika
Schwester von Mutti
I’d estimate the age of the lady to be around 40 years when the photo was taken, give or take 5 years, and I wondered when and where she might have been born, and when she might have moved to the U.S.?
Let’s carefully examine the visual details:
- Hat: The woman is wearing a large, ornate hat decorated with feathers, fabric flowers, and possibly lace. This type of elaborate hat is very characteristic of the 1890s to early 1900s (circa 1895-1910) and aligns with the Edwardian era.
- Dress: The dress features puffed sleeves, known as leg-of-mutton sleeves, which were highly popular around 1895. The high collar and the gathered bodice with a decorative brooch or clasp at the neckline are also consistent with women’s fashion in the 1890s.
- Photographic Style: The photograph has the soft grayscale tone and backdrop style of late 19th-century studio portraits. The use of a wicker chair also was a popular studio prop in the 1890s-1900s.
- Print Technique: The small square image of 1.25″ mounted to an ornate 2.8″ card indicates that it most likely falls into the category of “miniature card-mounted portraits”, sometimes informally called a small keepsake portrait. This is in line with late 19th-century novelty or boutique portrait formats. These were smaller than cabinet cards but still sold by photographers as studio portraits, often as gift portraits or mementos.
Based on fashion and photographic elements, this image was most likely taken between 1895 and 1905, with the late 1890s being the strongest estimate.
So, if we assume a shooting date between 1895 and 1905 and an age of 35 to 45 years, she might have been born in Germany between 1850 and 1870 and immigrated to the U.S. in the 1880s or 1890s.
ChatGPT contributed to this article.
Design ideas
The high resolution image
| Capture Date | around 1900 |
| Photographer | unknown |
| Location | United States of America |
| Image Source | 3.2 x 3.4 cm albuminum print mounted to cardboard |
| Digital Image Source | EPSON Perfection 4870 Photo |
| Digital Image Source Format | TIFF, 48 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Format | JPEG, 24 bits/pixel, sRGB |
| Edited Image Dimensions | 6144 x 6513 Pixels |
| Copyright | © by Mark Zanzig/zanzig.com |
Zanzig.com Photo Hub 