This is a gouache watercolor on board by Kenneth Ferguson.  It is entitled, “The Gift“.  It is on board and finished with crystal clear archival acrylic varnish, which seals the painting off from the environment and provides strong UV protection, so there’s no need for glass.  It is perfectly framed in a classic wood frame.

Kenneth says of this piece,

The Gift (Southern Cheyenne Woman, 19th Century).  This painting depicts a Southern Cheyenne (Tsistsistas) woman around 1870. The doll she carries was gifted to her as a young girl by her mother. It remains a treasured possession, perhaps to be handed down to her own daughter. The intricate detail and construction of this doll reflects the diverse materials used historically by the Native American tribes of the Great Plains. Such materials included tanned buffalo and deer hide, muslin, porcupine quills, glass bead, dentalium shells, color pigments and sinew.

Kenneth comments on his paintings, “Much of my work pertains to history and nature; often of the American West — and specifically, the people and animals that made their home on the Great Plains. Through my paintings, I shake the dust off the past and present these traditional subject matters in a more vivid, contemporary way. My interest might be the 19th century but I paint it as a 21st-century artist.”