Ammi Phillips (American 1788-1865), pair of oil on canvas portraits of a husband and wife, the gentleman wearing a black jacket and a white shirt, holding a book and seated at a painted Hitchcock chair, the woman with a white lace bonnet and a black dress, seated at a candlestand, purportedly Mr. and Mrs. Vail, probably Chenango County, New York, painted in 1826 when Phillips worked in the southern tier of New York state, 34'' x 28''. See Richard L. Barons, The Folk Tradition, Roberson Center, Binghamton, NY, 1982.

Man - period frame, relined, 3" tear repair to left of white shirt, very minor small touch-up to background, varnished. Woman - period frame, relined, 2 1/2" puncture in stomach, sporadic touch-up, approx. 5%, mainly to edges and background.