Long Bone Sections, Diderot Chirurgie Supplement Plate 7, circa 1778

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with eleven numbered figures of bone. Fig. 7 is a long limb bone drawn whole beside its slender companion bone, with a long rod ending in a scrolled handle, C, passed into a slot, A B, in the shaft. Fig. 9 shows the same pair of bones from another side, and Figs. 8, 10 and 11 show the long bone cut lengthwise to expose the spongy bone at the ends and the hollow shaft; in Figs. 10 and 11 a separate inner piece of bone, lettered G to L, lies inside a thickened outer shell. At the top, Figs. 1 and 2 show a fine rod set in a collar within a tapering piece of bone, Fig. 3 a block of bone opened to show two channels, Figs. 4 and 5 slender bones, one split along its length, and Fig. 6 a small bone cut into sections, b to e.

The plate number "Suppl. Pl. 7." is lettered at the top right, the section "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "150." at the lower left. 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 large bone studies along the lower half have a sculptural presence that suits an anatomy or natural history collection.

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