Yeu-Qua or Yeuqua (Chinese, fl. 1860-1885) miniature watercolor bust portrait of Marion Stewart Forsyth-Antisell of Detroit, Michigan (b. 1830-d.1882), as a young woman, with upswept brunette hair wearing a black dress with white collar and necktie along with gold earrings and a gold brooch. Pencil inscription en verso of wafer reads "Ivory miniature of Marion Steward (sic) Forsyth-Antisell born Detroit, Michigan married Dr. Thomas Antisell. My great-great grandmother, circa 1865-1867, Yeu-Qua No. 93 Queen's Road, Hong Kong". 5 5/8" H x 4 7/8" W. Note: Marion Stewart Forsyth-Antisell was the second wife of Dr. Thomas Antisell (1817-1893), and this portrait by the well known Hong Kong portraitist Yeu Qua may have been painted while she accompanied her prominent husband on his travels. Dr. Antisell immigrated to the United States from Ireland in 1848 to the U. S. to escape charges of "treason felony" levied by the British government as a result of his involvement in the Young Ireland movement. He established a medical office and a chemistry lab in New York in 1848 and later accepted the position of geologist on the Park Railroad Survey Expedition of Southern California and Arizona. He returned to Washington, DC in 1856 where he accepted the position of Chief Examiner in the Chemical Department of the Patent Office. In 1861, shortly after the start of the Civil War, he entered the Union Army as Brigade Surgeon, with the rank of Major, where he worked as medical director with various Army Corps in the Army of the Potomac. In 1862 he was made chief surgeon at Harewood Hospital in Washington, D.C. From 1866 to 1871 Antisell resumed his prior position in the US Dept. of Agriculture and the Patent Office. From 1871-1877 he worked in Japan with United States government commission. After his return to the U. S. in 1877, he returned to his former position where he worked until his death. (Source: https://feniangraves.net/Antisell,%20Thomas/Antisell%20bio.htm)

CONDITION: Unframed. Minute pinprick loss above subjects eye. Some toning to perimeter and evidence that it was previously housed in an oval frame. Losses to lower right corner, some old glue adhesive en verso to each corner.