The Mother's Dream, Currier & Ives Lithograph

This is a 19th-century hand-colored lithograph titled 'The Mother’s Dream', produced by the prominent American printmaking firm Currier & Ives (often colloquially referred to as 'Courier and Knives'). The artwork depicts a sentimental Victorian scene where a sleeping mother sits by a cradle, while an angel carrying a small child ascends into the light above her, symbolizing a spiritual vision or the loss of a child. The piece is housed in a contemporary period wooden frame with a dark finish and a gilded inner liner. Physically, the print shows signs of significant age, including notable foxing, browning of the paper (acidification), and moisture staining particularly visible along the upper margins. The colors appear somewhat muted, which is typical for hand-applied watercolors of this era. The bottom of the print features the title in a stylized serif font, flanked by poetic verses and the publisher's imprint at 152 Nassau St., New York. Despite the visible condition issues like surface grime and paper toning, the lithograph retains its narrative clarity and historical charm as a piece of Americana folk art from the mid-to-late 1800s.