Surgical Operating Chair, Diderot Chirurgie Supplement Plate 3, circa 1778

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, with two numbered views of a heavy wooden operating chair. Fig. 1 shows the chair in three quarter view: a tall padded and buttoned back, m, edged with close set nails, a thick seat cushion, padded armrests with loose straps, an oval padded rest, 7, on an adjustable stem at the left arm, and crescent shaped padded rests, 7, on stems at the back and the front of the seat. A padded clamp sits on a bar above the back, curved braces, q, run down to the base, the frame stands on small screw feet, and a long low footboard, h, stands in front. Fig. 2 shows the same chair from the front, with the crescent rests raised on either side, the sliding bars and thumbscrews along the seat front, a drawer handle below, and the footboard between the legs. A scale bar runs beneath Fig. 1.

The plate number "Suppl. Pl. 3." is lettered vertically at the right, the section "Chirurgie." below the border, and the page number "146." at the lower left. The scale is lettered "Echelle de 2 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 two chairs side by side make a strong landscape image, well suited to a wide frame above a desk or in a hallway.

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