Two portrait miniatures comprising a Gentleman with black jacket, waistcoat and stock and white collar, with blonde hair; a Lady with black bodice off the shoulders and necklace, her brown hair pinned up

Abraham Parsell was born in New Jersey and worked in New York City between 1820 and 1856. New York City Directories indicate that from 1844 to 1848, another miniature artist, John Parsell, shared an address with Abraham, who was presumably a relative. (See Rumford, American Folk Portraits in the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection (New York, 1981), p. 146; G and W, p. 489).