The William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue Raisonné

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Object within Schaaf no. 4595

Cuir Repousie [sic] of a Gothic roundel

Object details

Image size: h 7.9cm x w 7.3cm

Object Type: Salted Paper Print

Physical description: pale; print is detached or loose from its album page

Inscription: in pencil on album page, cuir repousie

Owner: Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

Object owner number: Ms. WHF Talbot photogr. 5

Collection: Archive Of William Henry Fox Talbot And The Talbot Family

Supporting images

This object is part of Schaaf no. 4595

Cuir Repousie [sic] of a Gothic roundel

Keywords: Sculpture;Lion;Angel

The technique known a 'cuir bouilli' results in an embossed leather, which when dried is a hardened decorative leather artefact.

Repoussé is the process by which a decorative motif is created in relief, usually in metal, by means of hammering the design from the back or inside of a sheet of metal.

The object rendered in cuir, and photographed here, is a sculptural relief in a Gothic style. The subject is possibly Biblical and may be the baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist, or perhaps the evangelist, Saint Mark. The highly decorative relief sculpture contains both Christian and pagan iconography, with depictions of a Green Man, a serpent or snake, a chalice, and a lion.