Civil War Era Hairwork Wreath with Cut Paper Border in Original Carved Frame schoolwork drawers open and close with

drawers open and close with ease

and all three lined up in a neat row

10 3/8" x 8"

Shunga (translation: "picture of spring

I found in the downstairs bar of a Brookline

Civil War Era Hairwork Wreath with Cut Paper Border in Original Carved Frame schoolwork drawers open and close withI was thrilled to find this one at an antiques show last week to my sensibilities an ideal example of a hair work wreath. Mid 19th century, it features at least three or four different samples of hair, likely more, very finely gathered and looped and wound into buds forming the arch of the wreath and then into a larger bow like flower at bottom. All the better to me for being of this intimate scale, and rarer still for being mounted to a cut paper