A Gentle Hand (and Short Breeches!) 19th C. Ambrotype of 18th Century Painting in Half Case hook tool with a little scattered staining

with a little scattered staining and toning

if not to be used for a shot of something warming

and this one in the most serene-subtle-sophisticated sort of palette too

which looks to be a scald mark and could have done the trick

3 3/8" t x 2" d

A Gentle Hand (and Short Breeches!) 19th C. Ambrotype of 18th Century Painting in Half Case hook tool with a little scattered stainingI wish I knew more about this one an ambrotype, found in MA, of an earlier painting, which looks Revolutionary War era to me (and him a bit like John Adams!), at the center of which is the gesture of her hand on his cuff with painted gold wedding band on her finger though I must say it looks a bit to me like the fingers of her other hand, resting in her lap, are crossed! (And the gesture itself feels, perhaps cynically on my part, like a bit of a