Raoult, Ivan Petrovic
Armed forces of the Russian Empire
Los 4106
Schätzung
4.000€ (US$ 4,545)
Armed forces of the Russian Empire. Circa 1878. 24 albumen prints. Each circa 24 x 20 cm or reverse. Each numbered, titled, and dated by another hand in pencil on the verso.
The photographs depict military and paramilitary figures from the Russian Empire’s southern frontier, including Caucasian Cossack officers and rank-and-file soldiers, as well as locally recruited mountaineers and irregular auxiliaries of Circassian type. Together, they reflect the diversity of imperial forces in the Caucasus, combining formal Cossack units with indigenous warrior traditions integrated into Russian service.
Redmayne, John Thomas
Micro-photographs from the Diatomaceae
Los 4107
Schätzung
3.000€ (US$ 3,409)
Micro-photographs from the Diatomaceae. 20,5 x 16 cm. 59 l. and 65 albumen prints (59 mounted on plates), circa 12,5 x 10 cm. Original green gilt stamped cloth, marbled endpapers. Bolton, n.d., ca. 1876.
First and only edition of a privately printed album of microphotographs illustrating various genera of microalgae, inscribed by the author to a microscope manufacturer; exceedingly rare. John T. Redmayne, a surgeon and physician, developed a specialized interest in microscopy, focusing on the collection and photographic documentation of diatoms. Among the more accomplished microphotographers of his time, he was also a founding member of the Bolton Microscopical Society, which supported his work. Published at his own expense in 1876, the album was not commercially distributed but circulated selectively as gifts or in exchange for scientific materials. This copy is inscribed to Thomas Armstrong of Armstrong & Brother Microscopes, Manchester, and includes an additional photograph of Trichina spiralis, signed by Armstrong and the photographer “J. G. Johnson,” as well as six further microphotographs preserved in a small envelope mounted to a text leaf, four depicting insects. Only one institutional copy is recorded (University of Victoria, B.C.), underscoring the publication’s rarity.
Photographers: Carl Heinrich Jacobi (1824-1897) and Gottfried Theodor Hase (active ca. 1818-1888). Early views along the Rhine River. 1850s-1860s. 4 rounded albumen prints, mounted to card with ruled borders. Each between 12 x 16 cm and 15,5 x 20,5 cm or reverse (mounts ca. 23 x 30 cm). All with printed photographer credit and place name below the image on the mount; some annotated in black ink on mount verso.
Carl Heinrich Jacobi worked as a photographer and publisher in Bad Kreuznach and the Middle Rhine region, producing composed topographical views of towns, river landscapes, and spa resorts. His work belongs to the tradition of commercially distributed Rhine photography, issued in albums and portfolios for tourism and the growing market for photographic souvenirs. Gottfried Theodor Hase, trained as a painter before turning to photography, is regarded as Freiburg im Breisgau’s first professional photographer. From the early 1860s onward, he documented the city’s medieval architecture and urban fabric with a clear, descriptive approach.
Views of Lyon on the occasion of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie’s visit. 1860s. 9 albumen prints, mounted to card. Each between 21,5 x 28,7 cm and 29,7 x 22,5 cm (mounts 39,5 x 32,5 cm or reverse). With the photographer’s blindstamp below the image on the mounts.
Pierre Ambroise Richebourg was a Paris-based photographer who specialized in the systematic documentation of architecture, interiors, and official events, contributing to the visual representation of the Second French Empire. The photographs presented here belong to the album Souvenir du séjour de Leurs Majestés Impériales à Lyon, produced on the occasion of the visit of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie to Lyon in August 1860. The majority of the images depict the interiors of the Hôtel de Ville de Lyon prepared for the imperial visit, while one photograph records a large military review held in honor of the occasion.
Views of Constantinople. 1850s-1860s. 3 albumenized salted paper prints and 1 salted paper print, mounted to card. Each ca. 24,2 x 28,2 cm (mounts 50 x 65 cm). Each annotated in pencil in the lower margin of the mount; one photograph numbered and titled in the negative in the lower left corner; one photograph with the photographer’s signature in the lower margin, partially cut off.
A Scottish engraver by training, Robertson served as chief engraver to the Imperial Ottoman Mint before turning to photography in the early 1850s. His photographs combine a precise architectural sensibility with a documentary interest in the urban fabric and daily life of the Ottoman capital. They are among the earliest systematic photographic records of the city. The views in this lot include the Galata Tower, the Fountain of Sultan Ahmed III, sections of the Theodosian walls, and the tomb of Sultan Suleiman.
Robertson, James
Interior of the Redan / View of an Abandoned Russian Battery / View of Sebastopol
Los 4111
Schätzung
1.500€ (US$ 1,705)
Interior of the Redan / View of an Abandoned Russian Battery / View of Sebastopol. 1855-1856. 3 salted paper prints, mounted to boards. Each ca. 23,5 x 29 cm (mounts 46 x 57 cm). With handwritten captions in pencil on the lower margin.
Taken by James Robertson during the Crimean War, these photographs depict key scenes from the Siege of Sevastopol, including the interior of the Redan, an abandoned Russian battery, and a general view of the city. Captured in the immediate aftermath of battle, they reveal shattered fortifications, debris-strewn terrain, and the desolate remnants of military infrastructure. As early examples of war photography, these images serve not only as historical documents of a pivotal conflict, but also as powerful visual testaments to photography’s role in recording the realities of modern warfare.
Photographers: Kenzo Tamoto (1832-1912), Ivan Nikolaevich Krasnov (life dates unknown), and unknown. Views of Northern Japan and Sakhalin. 1870s-1890s. 25 albumen prints, mounted to album pages. Each between 9,3 x 13,2 cm and 20 x 26 cm (pages 26 x 34 cm). Bound in a black canvas album with leather spine and decorative enpapers.
This album documents indigenous communities and settlements in northern Japan and Sakhalin in the late 19th century. Numerous photographs depict Ainu villages with their characteristic thatched houses (chise), alongside scenes of daily life such as weaving, gathering seaweed, and carrying firewood. Several images likely represent Nivkh (historically referred to as Gilyak) inhabitants of Sakhalin, identifiable by distinctive dress and ornament, underscoring the region’s ethnographic diversity. The album also includes two photographs of Russian penal colonies on Sakhalin, one of which depicts the infamous Russian thief Sofia Blyuvshtein (“Sonya Golden Hand”) in shackles during her imprisonment on the island, where she was later visited by Anton Chekhov.
Photographer: Thomas Andrew (1855-1939). Views from Samoa. Late 1890s-early 1900s. 38 albumen prints, mounted to board. Each between ca. 20 x 14,5 cm and 18 x 24 cm (mounts ca. 29 x 37,5 cm). Some prints dated, numbered, and signed in the negative in the lower margin.
The photographs offer a broad survey of Samoan life, combining posed studio portraits with outdoor scenes and staged genre subjects. Men and women appear in ceremonial dress - feathered headdresses, shell and tooth necklaces, and woven ornaments - alongside images of village interiors, ritual performances, dance scenes, and communal activities such as processions and feasts. Produced by Thomas Andrew, who lived and worked in Samoa from 1891 to 1939, the group reflects his sustained engagement with local society and forms part of a larger body of work documenting the islands’ landscapes, people, and cultural life during the colonial period.
(Attributed to). Panorama of Cairo. 1870s. Panorama consisting of 6 albumen prints, mounted to boards as leporello. 25 x 30,5 cm (entire size ca. 25 x 182 cm). Housed in a modern slipcase with marbled paper cover.
This six-part panorama of Cairo, attributed to Pascal Sébah, depicts a sweeping view of the city’s historical and architectural landmarks, including such sites as the Muhammad Ali Mosque, the Cairo Citadel, the aqueduct, the northern cemetery, and the mosques of Sultan Hassan and al-Rifa’i among others.
Sébah, Jean (J.P.), Paul Dittrich and Others
People and monuments of Egypt
Los 4115
Schätzung
800€ (US$ 909)
People and monuments of Egypt. 1880s/90s. 37 albumen prints and 1 salted paper print. Each between ca. 21 x 27 cm and 28 x 22 cm. Most with photographer’s name, title, and number in the negative along the lower edge; 22 mounted to board, 16 inserted in slits in paper leaves; titles annotated in white crayon below the image on the mounts.
The Austrian photographer Paul Dittrich established a studio in Ottoman Egypt in 1894, where he also worked as a court photographer. Jean Sébah, son of Pascal Sébah, entered into partnership with the Istanbul photographer Policarpe Joaillier in 1888 at the age of 16. This larger group of Egyptian views includes Luxor, the interior of the El-Azhar Mosque, and Karnak, among others.
Photographer: E. Huard (active 1850-1866). Views of St. Petersburg. 1860s. 11 albumen prints, mounted to board. Each ca. 17 x 23 cm or reverse (mounts ca. 31 x 42 cm or reverse). Some signed and numbered in the negative.
Taken by the prolific yet lesser-known photographer E. Huard, this lot offers an extensive photographic survey of Saint Petersburg in the early 1860s, encompassing many of its principal imperial landmarks, including Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, the Winter Palace, Smolny Monastery, the Monument to Nicholas I, the Bronze Horseman, and the Alexander Column. Additional views show Konnogvardeysky Boulevard, the Nikolaevsky Bridge, and Nevsky Prospekt, depicted both as a bustling urban artery animated by horse-drawn traffic and crowds and as the setting for a grand military parade with cavalry, infantry, and spectators lining the avenue.
Excitement. 1888. Albumen print, mounted to card. 14,7 x 20 cm (mount 29,8 x 21,5 cm). Signed and numbered in the negative in lower left corner. With another albumen print of the port of Whitby mounted to the verso.
This photograph is among the most characteristic works by Frank Meadow Sutcliffe, made in Whitby in the 1880s. Closely associated with the British pictorial movement, Sutcliffe developed a practice of staging scenes drawn from everyday coastal life, often using local children to create compositions that appear spontaneous yet are carefully constructed. The work exemplifies the late 19th-century shift toward photography as a more expressive and narrative medium.
The Ladder from "The Pencil of Nature", plate XIV. 1844. Varnished salted paper print, mounted to board. 16,8 x 18 cm (mount ca. 23,4 x 30,5 cm). With an ink outline around the image; original paper label on the verso reading “PATENT TALBOTYPE or SUN PICTURES,” numbered “14” in ink, and annotated in ink: “At Lacock Abbey, Wilts.”
A central figure in the invention of photography, Henry Fox Talbot developed the negative-positive process and understood photography as both a scientific and artistic medium, laying the groundwork for all later photographic reproduction. This print of The Ladder was most likely varnished by Talbot himself; as noted by Larry Schaaf, such varnishing was uncommon and undertaken only briefly as part of early experiments to improve the permanence of photographic prints. With only three other varnished examples known, the present work constitutes an important and rare document in the early history of photography.
Literatur: Larry J. Schaaf. The Photographic Art of William Henry Fox Talbot. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000, see pp. 200-201.
Teynard, Félix
Dendérah (Tentyris), Temple d'Athôr - Face Posterieure
Los 4119
Schätzung
1.200€ (US$ 1,364)
Dendérah (Tentyris), Temple d’Athôr - Face postérieure (plate 24, “Égypte et Nubie”). 1851-52. Salted paper print, printed 1853-54, mounted on the original album page. 25,2 x 31 cm (mount 39,5 x 50,5 cm). Title, plate number, and publisher’s imprint printed below the image on the mount.
Félix Teynard, an engineer and self-taught photographer, traveled through Egypt between late 1851-1852 with the aim of producing photographic views of architectural monuments to supplement the engravings published following the Napoleonic expeditions (1809-1829). Working with a large-format camera, he used the waxed paper negative process popularized by Gustave Le Gray, enabling him to achieve exceptional detail under difficult conditions. Around 160 photographs from this journey were published in Égypte et Nubie: sites et monuments les plus intéressants pour l’étude de l’art et de l’histoire, of which only about a dozen complete copies survive. Teynard’s photographs were met with considerable critical acclaim and were exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1855.
Teynard, Félix
Karnak (Thèbes). Palais - Salle Hypostyle - Colonnade Centrale Vue du Point J.
Los 4120
Schätzung
1.200€ (US$ 1,364)
Karnak (Thèbes). Palais – Salle hypostyle – Colonnade centrale, vue du point J (plate 89, Égypte et Nubie). 1851-52. Salted paper print, printed 1853-54, mounted on the original album page. 30,6 x 25,6 cm (mount 50,5 x 39,5 cm). With the title, plate number, and publisher’s imprint printed below the image on the mount.
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© 2026 Galerie Gerda Bassenge
Galerie Bassenge
Erdener Str. 5A
14193 Berlin
Öffnungszeiten:
Montag bis Donnerstag, 10–18 Uhr,
Freitag, 10–16 Uhr
Telefon: +49 30 8938029-0
Fax: +49 30 8918025
E-Mail: info (at) bassenge.com
Impressum
Datenschutzerklärung
© 2026 Galerie Gerda Bassenge