Antique 19th Century Photogravure Etched Copper Plate Mounted on Wood

Antique 19th Century etched copper photogravure plate, mounted on wood. The photo plate features a stately house with columns, with trees in the foreground.

Photogravure is a way of printing photographs, where a copper plate is first grained (given a textured surface), then coated with a light-sensitive gelatin layer that has been exposed to a film positive. The plate is then etched, creating a high-quality intaglio plate that can capture the rich details and continuous tones of a photograph. This process was especially important and popularly used for 19th century photography, but largely abandoned by the early 20th century.