Splints and Inclined Trough Apparatus, Diderot Chirurgie Plate IV, circa 1772

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, showing wooden and metal apparatus in eleven numbered figures. At the top are a half cylinder gutter splint (Fig. 1) and an arched band (Fig. 2). The largest figure is an inclined trough with side boards and a raised end board, set on a curved runner hinged to an open frame and raised by a strut resting in a toothed rack (Fig. 3). Around it are a side board with a hook (Fig. 4), two long side boards (both lettered Fig. 5) with small hinges, bars and a cranked rod laid between them, the bare frame and runner with its strut and rack (Fig. 6), a stepped block (Fig. 7), a small plate (Fig. 8) and a hinged angle plate pierced with holes (Fig. 9). At the foot of the plate stands a tall wooden post with a slanting arm on a cross shaped foot (Fig. 10), and beside it a young man sitting on a stool, bare to the waist, his arm laid along a projecting board and tied to it in three places (Fig. 11).

The plate number "Pl. IV." is lettered at the top right outside the border, the section title "Chirurgie." is centered below the border, and the page number "65." is at the lower left. No engraver's signature is lettered at the lower right or anywhere else on the plate.

The Encyclopédie of Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert was accompanied by volumes of engraved plates, the Recueil de planches, and this plate comes from their Chirurgie section in the Livorno edition published by Giuseppe Aubert, whose plate volumes appeared between 1771 and 1778. Each numbered figure is keyed to an explanation printed in the text volume, which is not part of the sheet.

The seated figure gives this plate a human presence that suits a study or consulting room.

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