Straps, Bars and Buckles, Diderot Chirurgie Supplement Plate 6, circa 1778

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with eight numbered figures of straps. Each is a long band of soft cloth, drawn with its folds and twists, joined to a stiff flat bar. In Fig. 1 the bar is held at each end by a small plate fixed with two screws, and the strap finishes in an open buckle, T. Fig. 2 is a single strap passing over a narrow bar, Figs. 4 and 5 show a pair of bars side by side between two loose ends of cloth, and Fig. 6 joins two such bars into an open rectangle with four free tails, E to H, two of them slit. Fig. 7 is a long strap with a broad bar fixed by screwed plates at G H and I K, ending in a buckle with its tongue, F. Fig. 3 is a strap end with two small tabs and laced cords, and Fig. 8 a strap with a stiff middle section that divides into two tails, C and D, each finished with small hooks.

The plate number "Suppl. Pl. 6." is lettered at the top right, the section "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "149." 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 flowing cloth bands give the plate a soft, sculptural quality that frames well in a pair with another sheet from the series.

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