Sixth-plate daguerreotype plate under an oval sand-finish gilt brass mat and chased foliate preserver, housed in a hinged miniature pressed-leather case lined with rich plum velvet and retaining an intact decorative brass clasp. Ca. 1850 - 1855. Plate measures approx. 2 3/4 x 3 1/4 in.; case measures approx. 3 1/4 x 3 3/4 in.

This remarkable composition captures three tiny newborn infants - possibly triplets - tucked snugly side-by-side into a comfortable bed. Their heads rest peacefully against a plump down pillow, their bodies swaddled in white nightgowns and drawn up under a textured dark coverlet or quilt. The studio operator managed the steep downward overhead perspective with remarkable skill, ensuring the facial planes of all three sleeping infants remain in crisp focus across a very narrow depth of field.

Photographing very young infants during the daguerreian era was notoriously challenging due to exposure times of several seconds, making sleeping portraits a preferred method to prevent blur. Documenting multiple births in early photography was extraordinarily unusual, as successful survival and delivery of triplets was an extreme medical rarity in the mid-19th century. While sleeping and post-mortem single infant daguerreotypes are known, surviving plates depicting multiple living, sleeping babies together in bed are virtually unrecorded.

[Daguerreotype, Sixth Plate, Triplets, Multiple Births, Sleeping Infants, Babies in Bed, Antebellum Childhood, Victorian Infants, Swaddled Babies, Domestic Americana, Medical History, Cased Image, 1850s Photography]

Very good to fine condition. The plate is brilliant and undisturbed, with only faint, light peripheral ring tarnish along the inner mat oval and minimal scattered dusting.