Stripes Obscuring Letters, Antique Cutout Watercolor Zebra on Penmanship Practice Scrap spirals but sometimes I can't

but sometimes I can't

Sold as found in a frame that looks to be lacquered and painted wood and shows a bit of loss around a couple of edges

And with the gradated application of the watercolor lending this wonderful softness to the whole thing

which I believe would have been done with the practical purpose for representing the proposed design for a room

extricated only by cutting him off at the ankles--which was done a but unevenly

Stripes Obscuring Letters, Antique Cutout Watercolor Zebra on Penmanship Practice Scrap spirals but sometimes I can'tI've had some other old animals cut from scrap paper of this sort, but none so large or with watercolored stripes! Quite a charmer of a zebra I think, who also looks a lot like a donkey, and with penmanship practice repeated letters showing through the stripes and also covering the reverse side. 9" l x 7 1 2" t. Watercolor on card weight paper. Very good condition, c. 1900 I believe, found in Pennsylvania.