Eye Studies and Eye Operation, Diderot Chirurgie Plate XXIV, circa 1772

This is an original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with five numbered figures concerned with the eye. Fig. 1 shows a pair of eyes; below the inner corner of one is a small round opening from which drops run down the cheek, and the other carries a small dark spot at the same place. Fig. 2 is a single eye with the nose, a drop gathered at the inner corner. Fig. 3 is a long striped band that crosses over itself, with a small screw fitting where it overlaps. Fig. 4 is a scene: a man in a wig, seated on a wooden chair, holds the head of a young patient seated before him, one hand over the brow, while a standing man applies a slender instrument to the patient's eye. Fig. 5 shows two hands at an eye, one spread over the brow and cheek to hold the lids open, the other holding a slender rod to the eye.

The plate number "Pl. XXIV." is lettered at the top right outside the border, the section title "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "87." at the lower left. It is signed at the lower right with the conjoined AB monogram followed by "s.", the mark the Venetian engraver Antonio Baratti used on the Livorno plates (his full signature, "Antonio Baratti s.", is lettered on Pl. XII of this section).

This sheet comes from the Recueil de planches of the Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, in the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert, whose plate volumes appeared between 1771 and 1778. The Chirurgie plates set out instruments, bandages and apparatus, keyed to an explanation in the text volume.

The clear line work and open layout read well on a wall, alone or hung with other plates from the same section.

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