Thigh Case, Belt, Forceps and Shears, Diderot Chirurgie Plate XIX, circa 1772

An original antique copper engraving, uncolored, from the Chirurgie plates of the Encyclopédie. Fig. 1 shows a lower trunk and thighs with the shirt turned up, wearing a broad belt closed by two buckled straps at the waist, from which a cylindrical case with a screw fitting at its end is strapped over the thigh at the viewer's left. Fig. 2 shows the belt and its harness laid out flat: the belt with its straps, a rounded pad, shaped bars and a plate with a screw. Fig. 3 is a long S curved instrument with a pointed, slotted tip and a rounded end. Fig. 4 is a pair of forceps with long bowed arms, a catch at the joint and forked, slotted jaws, with a detail of the jaws below. An unnumbered figure at the lower right shows a pair of long pointed shears taken apart, its two blades and the pivot screw drawn separately.

The plate number is lettered "Pl. XIX." at the top right, the section "Chirurgie." is lettered below the border, and the page number "82." stands at the lower left. No engraver's mark is lettered at the lower right. The figures are numbered Fig. 1 to Fig. 4, with one unnumbered figure.

Diderot and d'Alembert's Encyclopédie was accompanied by volumes of engraved plates, the Recueil de planches. The Livorno edition was published by Giuseppe Aubert, with its plate volumes appearing between 1771 and 1778, and this plate comes from its Chirurgie section, which sets out surgical instruments, bandages and apparatus and shows operations, the figures numbered and keyed to an explanation printed in the text volume.

The plate mark is visible around the image.

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