“Tiger Summers,” carte des visite (cdv), no date (ca. 1870). William A. Judson, new Britain, Connecticut, photographer. Judson was active in new Britain between 1856 as well as 1880.
Meet Tiger Summers who, at the time of this formal portrait, weighed 18 pounds, 3 ounces. Or so the penciled notation on the front of this carte de visite informs us. The back, however, has a note that Tiger Summers weighed 19 pounds as well as 10 ounces. In either case, this is a feline of substance.
Tiger is posed in a child’s Windsor chair. This plays with the scale of the image. Without the notation of his weight, as well as for that reason his implied size, Tiger might be the size of a human being — or a genuine tiger, for that matter.
Remember that this picture was made each time when a trip to the photographer’s studio was required. I like to picture Tiger’s owners reaching William Judson’s studio with their prize feline in a big travel basket. If I can discover out about Tiger Summers or his owners, I’ll update this short post.
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