Articles of China
before January 1844
Medium
Salted paper print from paper negative
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jean Horblit, in memory of Harrison D. Horblit, 1994
Accession Number
1994.197.1 (3)
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Articles of China," created by William Henry Fox Talbot January 1844, a pioneering salted paper print made from a paper negative—one of the earliest photographic processes. Talbot, a British inventor often credited alongside Louis Daguerre as a father of photography, developed the calotype method around 1840. This technique used paper negatives to produce positive prints, allowing for multiple reproductions from a single exposure, a breakthrough over Daguerre's one-of-a-kind images. The captures a refined still life of Chinese porcelain cups and, arranged with elegant simplicity. The salted ...
About the Artist
William Henry Fox Talbot · 1800–1877
William Henry Fox Talbot (1800–1877), a British polymath whose ingenuity transformed visual representation, was born on 11 February 1800 at Melbury House, Dorset, the only child of William Davenport Talbot of Lacock Abbey and Lady Elisabeth Fox Strangways, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Ilchester. His father died shortly after his birth, leaving the family in financial straits until his formidable mo...