Delicately Rendered 1880s Pennsylvania Folk Ink and Watercolor Ledger Drawing of Native American Chief (Copy) watercolor drawing and green sprigs for bushes

and green sprigs for bushes or trees all around them

the period when perforated paper was just becoming popular

with satisfying bruise-like darkening around it

Wear/fraying to the green fabric (I do believe silk) on the underside and a couple of very small losses to the felt around the perimeter

It appears that his arms we once attached by wooden pegs but at some point were secured with nails instead

Delicately Rendered 1880s Pennsylvania Folk Ink and Watercolor Ledger Drawing of Native American Chief (Copy) watercolor drawing and green sprigs for bushesThis is my favorite drawing I've had in some time, just the sort I go to Pennsylvania (and everywhere else) hoping to find. I know that it dates to right around 1880, and came from a ledger held by a young Burt Gemberling of Selinsgrove, Snyder County, MA. (Makes me think a bit of the drawings of Wayne Blouch, which I presented in an online viewing room in collaboration with Ricco Maresca a few years ago) Such a wonderful grace and delicacy to the ink