Hand-drawn Pen and Ink Antique Calling Card with Two Birds carrying basket if not actual execution

if not actual execution

apparent by comparing the black lacquer on the top of the box (a bit faded/dulled) with the black lacquer underneath

I imagine this elegant copper cigarette box set on a mahogany table in some richly appointed library or drawing room back in the day

The brush measures 11 3/8" long with a diameter of 2 3/4"

There are two small chips in the glaze on the base’s interior rim

Hand-drawn Pen and Ink Antique Calling Card with Two Birds carrying basket if not actual executionThis is a charming antique calling card, which I'd guess dates to the 1860s 1880s. I just love this pair of birds gracefully perched on a branch, each holding one side of the ribbon or scroll that announced a Clarence A. Corning, I believe it reads. Hand drawn in blue ink (a few small smears on the leaves of the branch on which the birds sit make it clear this is drawn rather than printed) on cardstock weight board. Really a lovely little thing. 2 1