Bottle whimsy with albumen photograph. American. 1890s
Until the 1890s, wedding portraits were a formal affair produced by the local studio photographer. This cabinet-card of a young couple (who look like brother-and-sister) is set into what appears to be a whiskey bottle, in which pastoral die cuts and gold foil are carefully arranged. A plain, folk artifact in its time, the naïve reworking of this idiom may be read today as a commentary about the institution of marriage.
