Comprising three portrait miniatures, the first a Gentleman in blue jacket with white waistcoat and collar and black stock, with black hair brushed forward and wearing a gold hoop in right ear; the second a Gentleman in black jacket, waistcoat and stock with white collar and brown wavy hair, attributed to Thomas E. Barratt (active circa 1833-1854); the third a Gentleman with black jacket and stock, yellow waistcoat and white collar, with black wavy upswept hair, attributed to Moses B. Russell (circa 1810-1884)

Arriving in the United States from Rome in 1818, Antonio Meucci (active 1818-1837) began working as a portrait and miniature painter first in New Orleans, and later in Charleston, Richmond, Baltimore, New York City, Salem and Portland, Maine, as well as Havana. After 1837, Meucci is believed to have worked in South America. (Johnson, p. 154.)

Thomas E. Barratt (born circa 1814) was born in England and came to the United States after 1833. Barratt settled in Philadelphia where he exhibited at the Artists' Fund Society and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts from 1837 to 1849. (Johnson, p. 80.)

See note to lot 160.