Mattie and Ollie's Watercolor Butterflies, 1881 antique shell box with a corresponding text card

with a corresponding text card for each bird

-  Alexander Pope (1688 - 1744)

5” diameter x 4 1/8” t and in good used vintage condition

2 1/2" t x 7/8" wide and deep

I read this painting as portraying a figure (whom I take for a woman) carrying a load (looks like bundle of kindling

Mattie and Ollie's Watercolor Butterflies, 1881 antique shell box with a corresponding text cardI believe this watercolor likely came out of a Victorian friendship book and what a wonderful articulation of friendship to have one butterfly painted by Mattie, age 11, and one by Ollie, 9, fluttering happily together since 1881. Sweet and lovely. 7 1 8" x 4", very good antique condition.