daguerreotype of unknown man
Date: after 1844
Inventory Number: 1998-1-0460
Classification: Photograph
Dimensions:
1.5 x 9.6 x 8.4 cm (9/16 x 3 3/4 x 3 5/16 in.)
Accessories: black leather case with maroon velvet lining, glass
DescriptionThis is a fine daguerreotype of an anonymous, bearded, Victorian gentleman in three-quarter view, wearing formal, mid-nineteenth century clothing. The photograph is covered in glass and is enclosed in a black leather case, lined with maroon velvet, and fastened with a gold-plated snap. Within the case, the photograph is surrounded with a small, elaborate gold-plated frame with an encrusted floral and leaf decoration around the outer edges, and a herringbone motif right around the oval opening of the frame, surrounding and silhouetting the portrait.
These small decorative boxes were fairly common for daguerreotype prints, which were usually difficult to preserve and needed protection, since they were usually made by coating a copper plate with silver salts, exposing it to light in a camera obscura, fuming it with mercury vapor, and then dousing it with a saline solution to fix the image. Therefore, these images needed to be shielded from dust, air, and fingerprints, which greatly compromised the integrity of the photograph.
Often, these boxes were decorated with sentimental tokens associated with the individual who was photographed, such as a lock of hair, since these daguerreotypes were often intimate objects that preserved the memory of a loved one who was either living or deceased.
These small decorative boxes were fairly common for daguerreotype prints, which were usually difficult to preserve and needed protection, since they were usually made by coating a copper plate with silver salts, exposing it to light in a camera obscura, fuming it with mercury vapor, and then dousing it with a saline solution to fix the image. Therefore, these images needed to be shielded from dust, air, and fingerprints, which greatly compromised the integrity of the photograph.
Often, these boxes were decorated with sentimental tokens associated with the individual who was photographed, such as a lock of hair, since these daguerreotypes were often intimate objects that preserved the memory of a loved one who was either living or deceased.
Signedunsigned