Victorian Celluloid Cabinet Card Album on Brass Easel Stand with Putti Cartouche

A late 19th-century parlor centerpiece designed to put a family's photographic legacy on permanent display. The album itself is bound in cream celluloid — an early plastic prized in the 1880s and 90s for its ivory-like sheen — chromolithographed at center with a cartouche of trumpeting putti flanking a cherub medallion, crowned by a lyre and shell and trailing into ribbon-bound foliate scrollwork over a swan device. Pierced gilt-metal corner mounts, a braided trim border, and a hinged carrying handle frame the cover, and the whole rests on a matching crushed velvet easel cradle with splayed brass legs ending in ball feet.

Lift the cover and the album opens to 18 stiff faux-bois pages, each die-cut with gilt-bordered windows sized to receive cabinet cards and cartes de visite — the standard studio portrait formats of the era. The fitted easel base houses a single velvet-clad drawer with a foliate brass ring pull, intended to hold loose photographs, calling cards, or correspondence. A complete and uncommon survival, with album and original presentation stand intact as a set.

CONDITION

Good overall and structurally sound, presenting well on display. The celluloid front cover shows several areas of paint chipping and surface flaking concentrated along the upper edge behind the brass trim, exposing the substrate beneath. Several interior page windows show wear and small tears to the paper backing at the photo openings; velvet on the base remains bright with light handling wear.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 13 1/2" W × 11" D × 7 1/2" H
• 18 Interior Pages with Die-Cut Cabinet Card & CDV Windows
• Celluloid Front Cover with Chromolithographed Putti Cartouche
• Album with Hinged Brass Carrying Handle
• Easel Base with (1) Pull-Out Drawer, Foliate Brass Ring Pull
• Crushed Velvet Upholstery, Pierced Gilt-Metal Corner Mounts
• Splayed Brass Legs with Ball Feet
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale