Sixth Plate daguerreotype depicting a Young Man With His Dog Holding a Nantucket Basket in his Mouth, American circa 1855
InformationDaguerreotype depicting a well-dressed young man seated next to a medium sized black and white dog holding a "Nantucket Basket" in his mouth, American circa 1858. The dag is very crisp and there is little or no doubt that the basket is one of the earliest examples of a Nantucket basket from the 1850's, the earliest beginnings of Nantucket baskets. The daguerreotype is noted on the back that it has a gentle cleaning on 7/15/11 by Casey Waters of Exeter N.H.. The Dag has a Thermo-plastic Union case with a label in the back which states “Littlefield Parsons & Co. Daguerreotype Cases, Patented October 14, 1856 and April 1857”. (PH0474)
Note: This is likely the earliest photograph known depicting a Nantucket basket. By the late 1850s, most American artists had switched from the daguerreotype process to large glass-plate negatives and albumen silver prints that combined the exquisite clarity of the daguerreotype and the endless reproducibility of paper-print photography.
circa 1855
