Full-length albumen CDV portrait. N.p.: n.p., ca 1870s.

This highly unusual CDV view depicts a fashionable young woman demonstrating an innovative domestic steam washer apparatus. Standing in a domestic setting, she operates the handle of a polished metal wash boiler vessel set atop an ornate cast-iron parlor stove with an attached stovepipe. Resting in the foreground on the floor are the interior mechanical components: two large circular perforated steam plates fitted with crank arms and brackets.

Photographic trade and demonstration cards highlighting patented domestic appliances, laundry technology, and household labor apparatus from the Civil War era and later are scarce, offering an engaging window into the mechanization of 19th-century American home life.

[Occupational Photography, Inventions, Steam Washer, Clothes Boiler, Domestic Appliance, Victorian Housewife, Parlor Stove, Cast Iron Stove, 19th Century Inventions, CDV, Carte de Visite, 1870s Photography, Commercial Photography, Domestic History]

Very good condition. The albumen print retains strong tonal range, warm sepia highlights, and sharp detail. Carte exhibits light, even age toning and minor edge wear to the card mount, along with a horizontal soft bend.