French stereo daguerreotype in passe-partout frame, approx. 6 3/4 x 3 1/2 in., ca. 1850s. Features hand-tinted details and gilt accents. Attributed to  the circle of Auguste Belloc (French, 1800 - 1867). Illustrated in Hans Christian Adam, Die Erotische Daguerreotypie: Eine Mediengeschichtliche Bestandsaufnahme (Prague, 1998, no. 16990).

This striking image depicts a reclining semi-nude model or courtesan posed in an orientalist studio interior. She rests against cushions draped in intricate lace, bare-breasted with her chemise draped across her arms, wearing dark headdress ornaments, a multi-strand necklace, stockings, and delicate slippers. The plate exhibits delicate contemporary hand-applied tinting, including subtle flesh tones to the face and torso, soft rose accents to the cheeks, subtle patterned drapery, and fine gilt highlights on the jewelry. The pose, drapery staging, and intimate lighting closely mirror the celebrated stereoscopic académie studies produced by Parisian photographer Auguste Belloc during the height of the Second Empire.

During the 1850s, Parisian photographic pioneers like Belloc explored the illusionistic three-dimensional depth of the stereoscope to create intimate, tactile studies of the human form. Produced under strict legal restrictions and sold discreetly to connoisseurs and artists as académies, French stereo daguerreotypes of nude and erotic subjects represent some of the most coveted rarities of early photography.

[Early Photography, 19th Century Photography, Daguerreotype, Stereo Daguerreotype, Stereoviews, Erotica, French Erotica, Nude Studies, August Belloc, Académie, Odalisque, Jacques-Antoine Moulin, Bruno Braquehais, Louis-Camille d'Olivier, Hand-Tinted, Hand-Colored Photography, French Photography, Fine Art Photography]

Very good overall. The dual plates retain brilliant clarity, sharp focal definition, and delicate hand-tinting with subtle, warm flesh tones. We note minor peripheral tarnish rings, light dust, and faint handling wear to the black perimeter tape, all consistent with age.