Featured Small Sepia Portrait in Period Sterling Frame; When an' Where?

The frame is 4" by 3", its window is 3 1/8" by 2 3/16". The rear panel an' its stand were once covered in mohair or simply red velvet, now reduced to the bare fabric except where protected; it was for its time a moderately costly item. The maker's logo is a wavy pennant on a staff with the characters F&B within; pattern #2684 after Sterling.
The woman wears a hairstyle an' dark garment that may point to a fairly specific period; last quarter of the 19th C would be my guess, an' I'll risk assuming of American rather than European origin.
Her gaze, though not directed towards the viewer, is uncommonly bland, but apparently serene...hard to read, remote.
An ID of the frame maker would be sweet, an' all of your other observations an' comments are most welcome...thanks for lookin'!

 

The mark is: Foster & Bailey, 1878-1898, Providence, RI

 

Foster & Bailey is the frame's maker, you can find their info here:
https://www.925-1000.com/americansilver_F2.html

Have you taken the photo out of the frame? Something may be written on the back.

 

Not yet, Marie...but soon, as I want to polish the silver.
If found, I'll post a pic!

 

Frame contemporary with the portrait. 1880s-1890s evidenced by the fringe.

Debora

 

Thanks, Debora...What fringe?

 

Her bangs. Those curly bangs were popularized by Alexandra, Princess of Wales in the 1880s.

Debora

 

Ahh...Got it, Debora...Thanks!

 

Personally, doubt the frame is as old as the picture, plain flat frames like this one are more typically from around the 1910s and later - the 'F&B' flag mark was also used for decades by Foster & Bailey's successor Theodore W. Foster & Bro., from 1898 until 1951.

~Cheryl

 

I can accept that, Cheryl...Thanks!

 

Looks like the image is probably cut down from a cabinet card photo, and then put into the frame. I hope there is something on the back -- either writing, or an imprint from a photography studio. I always love identification of old photos!

 

Have to wonder why they they didn't crop more off the bottom and less off the top - bothers my eye...

~Cheryl

 

Not everyone has a good visual sense.

Debora

 

When I removed it from the frame, I found it was indeed on heavy stock; it must have been cut down from a cabinet card, as you suggest...but alas, no marks on the back, nor on its frontal margins. Nada...sigh.

 

Ain't she a beauty? But her stone face is as unexpressive as my anonymous charmer...must have been the fashion before portrait photographers prompted their subjects to 'Say Cheese'!

 

From a 1919 retailer catalog:



~Cheryl

 

Had to do with the state of one's natural teeth before modern dentistry.

Debora

 

You bet. Most people, when the take a photo of a person, position the head in the middle of the image. On more than one occasion I have had to make myself move the camera down at the last second!