Portrait Miniature
Signed Justus DaLee
dated 1841.  

Likely the area around Rochester, NY. Watercolor and ink on card.
The back inscribed: “Taken in 1841 by J. DaLee”.  The front inscription is later, likely when the portrait was framed; the back inscription is original and period.

The woman shown in ¾ length profile seated in a Hitchcock-style chair. Long ago the card lightly (spot) laid down on paper, likely to accommodate the larger frame size, which may be the first framing of the portrait. 

Justus DaLee was a musician in the War of 1812, a father of ten children, and was a “Side Portrait” itinerant painter of portrait miniatures for over 20 years working in Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio. Dated examples from Pittsford NY (a suburb of Rochester) are known from 1841/42. Frame size about 6 5/8 inches x 5 5/8.

Has not been on the market since acquired privately by a collector in the 1960’s.