Whole plate hand-tinted colorized albumen affixed to a glass plate. N.p., ca. 1850s-1860s. Full thermoplastic Union case manufactured by Littlefield, Parsons & Co. depicting "Landing of Columbus" by John Vanderlyn, 1847 (Berg 1-7). Brass mat stamped with publisher's imprint. With period typed appraisal evaluation sheet. 

A portrait of Rebecca Jones Lasher, displayed beneath an oval-aperture brass mat and heavy foliate preserver with rich plum velvet facing pad. The star of the show, however, is the case its housed in. Manufactured by Littlefield, Parsons & Co. and die-engraved by Frederick B. Smith and Herman Hartmann, the exterior case lid presents one of the rarest, most intricately detailed pictorial dies ever executed for early American cased imagery, "The Landing of Columbus" (adapted from John Vanderlyn’s famous painting in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda). Christopher Columbus stands at center brandishing the Royal Standard of Spain alongside his officers, monks, and armored crew, with Columbus's flagship pictured in a cartouche above, indigenous canoes below, and symbolic cornucopia and floral borders.

"The Landing of Columbus" remains among the crowning achievements of 19th-century thermoplastic art and is widely considered one of the holy grails of American Union case collecting due to its massive scale, dramatic narrative relief, and scarcity. It would be difficult to upgrade this example. 

[Union Case, Thermoplastic Case, Landing of Columbus, Berg 1-7, Littlefield Parsons, FB Smith and Hartmann, Christopher Columbus, Whole Plate, Mammoth Plate, Cased Images, Early Photography, Hand Tinted, Desanchis Paris, Daguerreotype Case, Ambrotype Case, 19th Century Decorative Arts]

Very good to fine condition. The thermoplastic case exhibits exceptional sharpness and crisp high-relief definition across all sides, with no structural cracks and only minimal corner rubbing. The hinges and clasps remain fully sound and intact. The interior portrait display retains vivid color and outstanding sharpness.