A friend of my mother's passed away recently and left her a signed sketch, maybe pen and ink, I'm not sure. It is from the neck up and shows a young girl and boy, maybe twins. It is titled at the bottom and appears to say "syston", but is difficult to make out. The artist has also clearly signed his/her name in the corner, but I would be taking a wild guess at what the name the letters form. Any suggestions? I've included three attachments. Thank you.

Usually portrait drawings like that were done by local not well known artists.

It actually looks to be a print. The indention around the picture is from the metal plate the image was carved on being pressed into the paper by the printing press.

It's also an amateur work. If it was done by a high-profile or professional printmaker then it would be perfectly squared on the paper, not slightly slanted. It would also have the edition numbers (ex. 4 of 25) somewhere on it, as printmakers VERY rarely make only one print from a plate.

The chances of finding out the artist is slim. My guess is that it was done by a family friend and given as a gift or bought at a local art show or sale.

It is a nice print. Well done and sweet.

Thanks for your help. I managed to find out a little more. For example, the title is actually "Syskon", which means siblings in Sweden. I did a further search and found one that just sold on eBay. It said it was an etching by the Swedish born Canadian artist Malte Sterner (1903-1952). I didn't think that the signature looked at all like "Malte Sterner". The piece sold for $150.00