A Spot of Tea with Momma

From the Lincoln, Lawrence, Franklin Library's John Holly Williams collection, Unidentified groups, 1850 to 1920.  

As with so many others, little is known about this photo as to who, when, and where.

I'm going out on a limb here and suggest that this is a mother posing with her four young sons, all of whom are decked out in "Sunday Best" suits and ties.  They are seated at a small table adorned with an "open work" tablecloth, china cups and saucers, a silver teapot and a creamer and sugar bowl and what appears to be a large candy dish.  

I detect faint smiles on at least of three of the faces, Momma included, which seemingly bucks a trend of folks not smiling for the camera way back when. 

Behind them is a paneled screen adorned with Oriental designs. Based on the woman's "Gibson Girl" hairstyle and her dress, I suspect this photo was taken in the early 1900s but before World War I broke out, when the Gibson Girl look -- made popular by Life Magazine's publication of John Dana Gibson's illustrations of the idealized "modern" woman -- and its requisite corsets, fell out of favor. 

As always, comments welcomed here and/or on my Facebook page.