Tintype of man saluting against a backdrop of Grant's Tomb
- Photograph by
- Unidentified
- Subject of
- Unidentified Man or Men
- President Grant, Ulysses S., American, 1822 - 1885
- Date
- ca. 1897-1920s
- Medium
- collodion and silver on iron with lacquer
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 3 9/16 × 2 11/16 × 1/8 in. (9 × 6.8 × 0.3 cm)
- Caption
- The unidentified man in this portrait wears elements of traditional Mexican and Native American dress involving a sombrero style hat and an elaborately decorated waist belt bordered in cowrie shells. Typical of Mexican charro style, the wide brimmed sombreros were also adopted by American Indians in the Southwest. Indigenous cultures across North America, including the Apache, Ute, Cheyenne, and Sioux, used cowries as embellishments for various garments.
- The man poses in an open-palmed salute while standing in front of a painted studio backdrop of Grant’s Tomb, the final resting place and memorial of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife. Multiple photography studios utilized backdrops depicting this landmark around the time of the memorial’s completion in New York in 1897.
- Description
- A sixth plate tintype depicting a man standing in front of a bench and a painted studio backdrop of Ulysses S. Grant's tomb. He is looking directly at the camera. His proper right arm is fully extended, raised shoulder-height, in an open-palmed salute. In his left hand he holds a dark-colored sombrero. He wears a light-colored suit, white shirt, cravat, and a wide belt highly decorated with cowrie shells and other ornamental elements. To his left, his cane is propped up on the bench beside him.
- There is a small black smudge in the lower right-hand corner of the tintype near the base of the bench.
- The tintype does not lay flat and the lower portion is slightly raised when placed on a level surface.
- There are no marks or inscriptions, front or back.
- Place depicted
- Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
- Cultural Place
- Mexico, Latin America, North and Central America
- United States, Southwest United States, North and Central America
- Classification
- Photographs and Still Images
- Type
- tintypes
- portraits
- Topic
- Gesture
- Military
- Photography
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2014.37.12
- Restrictions & Rights
- Public domain
- Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.