https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/fancy-turning * Home * Essays * Collections * Explore * Shop * Support PDR * About * Blog Search Search The Public Domain Review [ ][View All Results] The Public Domain Review The Public Domain Review PDRSupport PDR * Essays * Collections * Explore * Shop * About * Blog * * * * * Collections / Images Specimens of Fancy Turning (1869) [lathe-patt] This early photography book features thirty tipped-in albumen silver prints of geometric designs created on "the hand or foot lathe". Resembling something between spirograph drawings and textbook diagrams of orbiting electrons, the figures were created using geometric, oval, and eccentric chucks and an elliptical cutting frame. Attributed to "an amateur", the book is credited by the Philadelphia Museum of Art as the work of Edward J. Woolsey (1803-1872), an heir of the mercantile Woolsey family and partner in the New York Patent Sugar Refinery. Along with his wife and first cousin Emily Aspinwall's businessmen brothers, who built an improbable railway line in the early 1850s linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across Panama, he invested in a well-known estate in Lenox, Massachusetts, and furnished it with eight miles of crisscrossed carriage roads. "Fancy" turning is an old artform, thought to originate in fifteenth-century Bavaria, with sustained discussions of the practice first appearing in Charles Plumier's L'Art de Tourneur (1701). While we may be more familiar with lathes being used to shape staircase balusters and table legs, here an eccentric cutter can create both convex and concave objects. These patterns ornament the lids of wood and ivory boxes, bannister newels, and bowls with rose-like inlays. The photographs in Woolsey's book, on the other hand, treat fancy turning as an almost two-dimensional technique. There is little sense of depth -- these designs appear to be etched directly onto the photographic paper. They simply celebrate the texture of light as it spirals out across a surface. There was precedent in Woolsey's time for this flattened presentation of ornamental turning. Due to the difficulty of producing (yet alone reproducing) such filigreed shapes -- Holtazapffel's Turning and Mechanical Manipulation (1884) offers dozens of pages describing precise configurations for the slide rest, mandrel, and chuck -- patterns from geometric lathes were included on bank notes and postage stamps as a defense against counterfeiting. The particular lathe used in this process was invented by Asa Spencer, who introduced the machine into general use circa 1818. A British commenter the following year noted how the lathe's "powers for producing variety are equalled only by the kaleidoscope; but for beautiful patterns it surpasses everything of the kind." And these Specimens of Fancy Turning are indeed kaleidoscopic. Perhaps we are drawn to them because they feel at once fundamental and accidental. Like the vortices dripped into existence by a leaky paint can swinging on a string, or the staggering shapes vibrated out of chaos onto Chladni plates, these geometrical figures seem to allow us to peer into certain formal properties of the world that recur at every scale of physical existence. Text by Hunter Dukes Published June 21, 2023 Medium * Images Theme * Design & Typography Style * Photographs Epoch * 19th Century Tags woodwork3forgery2ornament4craftmanship2geometry20 Source Source Philadelphia Museum of Art * More Philadelphia Museum of Art content on PDR (2) Rights Underlying Work PD Worldwide Rights Digital Copy No Additional Rights Rights Download Download Right click on image or see source for higher-res versions Found Found Via John Overholt Via Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Albumen silver print of ornamental lathe turningScroll through the whole page to download all images before printing. Want this image on your wall? We've the image from this post in our online prints shop--all custom made to the highest standards, framed or unframed, and shipped to your door. Buy Print If You Liked This... Hand holding envelope Get Our Newsletter Our latest content, your inbox, every fortnight Privacy Policy More Info [ ][ ] HP[ ] [Subscribe] Become a Friend of the PDRPostcardsWe rely on our annual donors to keep the project alive. Perks include receiving twice-a-year our very special themed postcard packs and getting 10% off our prints.Find Out More Prints for Your Walls Explore our selection of fine art prints, all custom made to the highest standards, framed or unframed, and shipped to your door. Start Exploring The Public Domain Review * Essays * Collections * PD Remix * Conjectures * Curator's Choice * Bibliography * Shop * PDR Press Books * Support PDR * About * Contact * Blog * Contributors * Sources * Submissions Subscribe to Our Newsletter * * * * * Using Material * Rights Labelling * Terms and Conditions * Privacy Policy * Returns Policy * Shop FAQ The majority of the digital copies featured are in the public domain or under an open license all over the world, however, some works may not be so in all jurisdictions. On each Collections post we've done our best to indicate which rights we think apply, so please do check and look into more detail where necessary, before reusing. Unless otherwise stated, our essays are published under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. Strong Freedom in the Zone. The Public Domain Review is registered in the UK as a Community Interest Company (#11386184), a category of company which exists primarily to benefit a community or with a view to pursuing a social purpose, with all profits having to be used for this purpose. Pantagruel Sign Up for Our Newsletter! The latest wonders from the site to your inbox. Once every two weeks. [ ][ ] HP[ ] [Subscribe] Privacy Policy | More Info You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the provided link in our emails. * * * * I have read and agree to the Terms and Conditions --------------------------------------------------------------------- {{ number }} {{ $localize("payment.title") }} {{ $localize('payment.no_payment') }} {{ $localize('payment.place_order') }} Pay by Credit Card --------------------------------------------------------------------- Pay with PayPal {{ $localize('cart.summary') }} {{ $localize('actions.edit') }} --------------------------------------------------------------------- Click for Delivery Estimates --------------------------------------------------------------------- Click for Delivery Estimates {{ $localize('cart.shipping_taxes_calculated_at_checkout')}} {{$localize ('errors.order_validation.custom_fields_validation.description')}} {{ $localize('actions.checkout') }} Sorry, we cannot ship to P.O. Boxes. Sorry, we cannot ship to P.O. Boxes.