Sixth plate studio portrait daguerreotype. Kjöbenhavn (Copenhagen), [Denmark]: Mads Alstrup, ca 1845-1850. Housed in its original Danish presentation frame, approx. 4 x 5 in. overall, featuring an oval lithographed cream paper passe-partout mat with gilt-beaded outer fillet border and bound glass cover. Lower oval margin bears the clean printed photographer credit in period script: "Daguerreotype af M. Alstrup i Kjöbenhavn." 

This refined three-quarter seated portrait depicts a poised young Danish woman resting her right forearm on the carved arm of an upholstered studio chair. She wears her hair parted neatly in the center and swept back into side coils, attired in a tailored dark silk gown with dramatic wide bertha lapels, a brooch, and a bead bracelet encircling her wrist. The background exhibits subtle painted drapery folds, conveying the dignified restrained elegance of Golden Age Denmark.

Mads Alstrup (1808 - 1876) was Denmark’s first native professional daguerreotypist. Originally trained as a goldsmith, Alstrup established his pioneering portrait studio at Hercules Pavillonen in Copenhagen’s Rosenborg Castle Gardens in the summer of 1842, later expanding to permanent quarters in the city center. Alstrup's surviving daguerreotypes - particularly when preserved within their original and intact passe-partout bindings - are paramount landmarks in the history of Scandinavian photography, with institutional holdings centered at the National Museum of Denmark and the Royal Danish Library.

[Daguerreotype, Sixth-Plate, Mads Alstrup, M. Alstrup, Copenhagen, Kjobenhavn, Denmark, Danish Photography, Scandinavian Photography, European Photography, Early Photography, Passe-Partout, Women's Fashion, 19th Century Photography]

Very good condition. The plate exhibits fine clarity and good contrast, showing minor light surface dust and faint peripheral tarnish under the glass consistent with its original housing. The passe-partout mat displays light, even toning and scattered foxing along the cream margins, with the printed Alstrup credit remaining sharp and fully legible; glass cover shows an early hairline crack across the upper right corner, with the beaded gilt fillet and binding tape intact.