Sixth-plate daguerreotype plate housed under an oval gilt brass mat with rope-twist edge and matching preserver, enclosed in an early black morocco leather miniature case with rounded corners, a push-button release clasp, and deep plum silk-velvet facing pad. Boston or Vermont, circa mid-to-late 1840s. Plate measures approx. 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.; case measures approx. 3 1/4 x 3 3/4 in. Accompanied by contemporary manuscript provenance identifying the sitters.

A remarkable dual portrait of a married couple born during the reign of King George III and the dawn of the American Revolution. Accompanying period manuscript records identify the sitters as: "Deacon Paul White born 1765, married in 1786 Polly Smith Born 1766, lived in Williamstown, VT, Paul born in Lancaster, Mass Polly born in Weston, Mass."

The elderly couple sit side-by-side in high-back wooden chairs. At left sits Deacon Paul White, attired in an open dark tailored frock coat, dark patterned waistcoat, high white wing collar, and wide black silk stock cravat, holding a polished light-wood walking cane angled firmly across his arm. At his right sits Polly Smith White, wearing an antebellum day dress draped with a dark shawl and a patterned neck ribbon, her head framed by a gathered white bonnet tied beneath the chin, her hands resting quietly in her lap.

Daguerreian portraits depicting individuals born in the 1760s represent an elite tier of American photography. Men and women of Deacon White's generation came of age alongside the birth of the Republic, witnessing the Continental Congress, Shays' Rebellion, and the frontier settlement of Vermont. Having married in Massachusetts in 1786, a year before the drafting of the U.S. Constitution, the Whites migrated north into Orange County, Vermont, where Deacon White served as a pillar of the Williamstown community. Surviving plates of 18th-century born couples possessing fully verified names, birth years, marriage dates, and towns of origin are extraordinarily uncommon visual records of the roots of America.

The image is housed in a classic "Boston-style" case characterized by rounded corners, fine leather embossing, and a brass push-button catch at the center front edge, typical of prominent New England galleries of the 1840s.

[Daguerreotype, Sixth Plate, 18th Century Births, 1765, 1766, Revolutionary War Era Births, Deacon Paul White, Polly Smith White, Williamstown Vermont, Lancaster Massachusetts, Weston Massachusetts, Walking Cane, Cane, Bonnet, Push Button Case, Boston Case, Early Photography, Folk Americana]

Good condition. The plate exhibits average contrast and resolution. A fine pattern of natural spider-web tarnish and solarization halos frames the upper oval background above the sitters, leaving the subjects unobstructed. The original Boston-style push-button leather case is in excellent condition with honest shelf wear.