Victorian Dried Seaweed Pressings, Isle of Wight, #4 (A Pair) 1940s german which became an important export

which became an important export crop to Europe beginning in the 16th century--very desirable for its extraordinary combination of strength

called "handa" in Japanese

with the sullen subject reluctantly sitting for the portrait

and of the brilliance of artist

Victorian Dried Seaweed Pressings, Isle of Wight, #4 (A Pair) 1940s german which became an important exportThese two small seaweed pressings are among a handfulI purchased together, which I think are just exquisitely beautiful! A few of them are signed and dated at bottom, others initialed on back (the smaller of these two is initialed C. A. S), so they represent the work of a few different people, most likely young women, among whom seaweed collecting and pressing was quite the thing during the Victorian era. I love the fact that making these represented