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Photograph

19th Century (made)
Artist/Maker

Also known as an ambrotype, the collodion positive was invented by F. Scott Archer in 1822, and was in widespread use by the mid-1850s. To produce a collodion positive, a sheet of glass is hand-coated with a thin film of collodion (guncotton dissolved in ether) containing potassium iodide, and sensitised to the light with silver nitrate to create a collodion negative. The back is then painted black or covered with a piece of dark cardboard or cloth in order to achieve the effect of a positive image.

This collodion positive shows a bust length portrait of a man, contained in a gilt frame with an oval window.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
collodion positive
Brief description
Mount Stamped: Cooke and Emerson's patent applied for, Providence R.I.; Anon. Portrait of a man, oval, bust length
Physical description
Bust length portrait of a man in gilt metal frame. Rectangular frame with oval window.
Dimensions
  • Frame height: 82mm
  • Frame width: 62mm
  • Print diameter: 52mm
Summary
Also known as an ambrotype, the collodion positive was invented by F. Scott Archer in 1822, and was in widespread use by the mid-1850s. To produce a collodion positive, a sheet of glass is hand-coated with a thin film of collodion (guncotton dissolved in ether) containing potassium iodide, and sensitised to the light with silver nitrate to create a collodion negative. The back is then painted black or covered with a piece of dark cardboard or cloth in order to achieve the effect of a positive image.

This collodion positive shows a bust length portrait of a man, contained in a gilt frame with an oval window.
Collection
Accession number
E.1165-1992

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Record createdJune 4, 2008
Record URL
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