John Jabez Edwin Mayall - Minature Photographs On Ivory

Minature Photographs On Ivory

After the introduction of Archer's collodion process a number of photographers experimented with materials other than glass to use as a base for collodion positives. Around 1853 Adolphe Alexandre Martin (1824–1896) a French teacher, put forward the idea of using thin sheets of enamelled iron and in 1854 a Liverpool photographer suggested photographs on dark-coloured leather. In the early 1850s, Mayall worked on producing a substance that resembled ivory and could hold photographic images on its surface. He hhoped he would be able to produce photographs that closely resembled the portrait miniature on ivory. In October 1855, Mayall filed a patent for his "Artificial Ivory for receiving photographic pictures." (British Patent No 2381) A mixture of powdered bone or ivory and albumen was worked into a palste and combined with gelatine. The 'artificial ivory' mixture was rolled out in thin slabs and specially prepared to received photographic images.