Chair Frame and Fittings, Diderot Chirurgie Supplement Plate 4, circa 1778

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with six numbered figures. Fig. 1 is a straight elevation of the operating chair showing the back frame: a tall upholstered panel edged with nails, two vertical rods joined by a sliding crossbar, a bar across the top carrying a small clamp, curved rests, 7, at each side, and the seat, legs, screw feet and low footboard below. Fig. 2 is a curved band with a thumbscrew clamp and a square sliding bar. Figs. 3 and 4 show the end of a rod with a ring of studs above a flat, rounded blade; in Fig. 4 a pierced strip, d, swings across the blade and is also drawn in dotted outline. Fig. 5 is a padded block with a sliding bar beneath a crescent rest drawn in dotted line, and Fig. 6 a square socket with a round boss and side screws. A scale bar runs beneath the fittings.

The plate number "Suppl. Pl. 4." is lettered vertically at the right, the section "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "147." at the lower left. The scale is lettered "Echelle de 3 Pieds de Roi." No engraver's mark is lettered at the lower right.

The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert was accompanied by volumes of engraved plates, the Recueil de planches. In the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert the plate volumes appeared between 1771 and 1778, with a supplement volume of plates in 1778 to 1779, the source of this plate. The Chirurgie plates set out surgical instruments, bandages and apparatus, keyed to an explanation in the text volume.

The sheet has the look of a working drawing, attractive in a study.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.