Black Forest Photo Album with An Unusual Relief Depicting Putti, One Blowing Bubbles, the Other, Playing Cymbals

Berner Oberland, Switzerland. Very Good Plus. N.d., circa 1890. The front board is quite elaborate, with a beveled perimeter of a richly painted wood grain. Within is an oblong piece of walnut in the quintessential Black Forest, or in actuality, Swiss Brienzerware, style. By this is meant the delicate foliate relief vignettes which rest on lightly pitted wood. But this frames a light walnut oblong oval with the putti relief that bespeaks more eighteenth century rococo than standard Brienzerware, except that the stones and vegetation at the base are consistent with Brienzerware. The rear board of the album has a pyrographic bouquet such as was practiced by the Swiss carvers later in the nineteenth century. The album, now empty of photos, has 25 thick card leaves, and it is kept closed with a brass clasp. The spine is of brown morocco.