Remarkable 1890s Composite Photograph

[Composite Photograph] One Thousand Seven Hundred Children Look On / Three Years Came to My Shop / 明治廿六年九月十三日版権所有江崎寫眞館 三ケ年間來客中十五ケ月未満 小児壱千七百人集寫

Esaki Reiji

Notes: One of the largest and most accomplished composite photographs from the late 19th century. Esaki (1845–1910) was the first Japanese photographer to use dry-plate negatives, and in the 1890s he created this composite image of 1700 toddlers (the Japanese caption identifies them as 15-month-olds) as a demonstration of the possibilities of dry plate. It was also a dramatic illustration of the success of his portrait studio. If his claim that all these images of toddlers were taken in a three-year period, then his studio was photographing several babies every day, in addition to all its other work.

There is another version of this image with the Japanese caption split into two sections, with the English caption in between (see SFMOMA's copy, for example).

Image measures 8-9/16 by 10-9/16 on a roughly 10-7/8 by 12-inch mount of this board with gilt edges.

Edition + Condition: A near fine, good-quality albumen silver print. Minor wear to the corners of the mount.

Publication: Tokyo: Esaki Photo-Studio, 1893 [Meiji 6].

Item No: #307579

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