XV, XVI, XVII

Six plates of skeletonized leaves. A Victorian-era reference work on "leaf skeletonizing", a centuries old process of removing the chlorophyll from leaves to create intricate designs in imitation of those left by insects and larvae. The art of preparing the fibrous skeletons of plants was understood and practiced in China during the Ming dynasty (14th century), and in the Victorian age (19th century) mentioning phantom bouquets made of skeletonized leaves to impress the English nobility. These designs also were used as borders on photographic portraits and for other decorative uses. Whether these are actually nature prints is difficult to say. The process is unrecorded in this form in the United States and no printer is identified here. Under 60X magnification these prints are indistinguishable from the Pokorny nature prints. [1]

Reproduced / Exhibited

MET Accession Number: 1979.575

References

[1] Hanson, David Checklist of photomechanical processes and printing 1825-1910, 2017