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This cabinet card portrai shows two American siblings, identified only as Ben and Clara. The children look to be about 4-7 years old. Clara weara a dress with a white collar with anecklace. Her dress has low waistline. Ben wears a dress styled like boyish suit. Both children have long stockings. Clara has striped stockings. There is no studio identification. The portrait is undated. We would guess the 1870s. A reader writes, "There are some interesting details in this portrait. You can see the bulge of the boy's long underwear at the each calf (mid-calf) where it ends. My guess is that he is wearing pantalets underneath that attach with buttonholes to something at the waist. Sometimes they were called knitted drawers but they did not have a fly and opened at the sides. The lace collar obviously attaches to any outfit and is used to make the
outfit dressier. His big sister wears a smaller one." I'm not sure about pantalettes, I would say long underwear.
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