An exposure and a later print

Royal Collection photograph RCIN 2906556 carries an 1889 object date after an original made on 24 August 1854. The catalogue associates the original with Ernst Becker and the later carbon print with Gustav William Henry Mullins. Recorded mount wording identifies Mullins’s 1889 reproduction. Its image measures 14.4 by 11.8 centimetres, on a larger album page. These details belong together: copying only the 1854 date would conceal the later object’s manufacture, while copying only 1889 would conceal its earlier photographic source. A research note should identify which stage its date describes and retain the catalogue number that distinguishes this print.[1]

A portrait and its acquisition

The National Portrait Gallery’s NPG x1506 is an albumen carte-de-visite by Antoine Claudet, dated approximately 1864. Its image measures 89 by 57 millimetres. The record says it was acquired from Clive Holland in 1959. Those fields answer separate questions: the approximate making date concerns the photograph, while 1959 records an acquisition. Neither the later display-label date nor the acquisition year dates Duleep Singh’s sitting. Retaining the small photographic format and the accession identifier also makes comparison more precise than searching only for the sitter’s name, which can retrieve many different portraits and later reproductions.[2]

Studio attribution and later custody

National Trust object 1520160, in the Fox Talbot Museum’s Fenton Collection, is attributed to Claudet’s studio and dated 1860–1870. It is an albumen carte-de-visite mounted on heavy white card, with recorded handwritten identification and studio markings. Its documented later trail passes through the Fenton Museum at Port Erin, a British Film Institute purchase in 1986 and a 2017 gift to the National Trust. This trail does not identify every owner since the 1860s. Nor does a shared studio and sitter make it the identical physical print catalogued by the National Portrait Gallery. Keep both object identifiers when comparing the descriptions.[3]

Sources & notes

Source records include access dates and, where known, limits on what was examined. Checks used AI assistance; independent human or specialist review has not been completed.

  1. Royal Collection Trust. Maharaja Duleep Singh, RCIN 2906556: carbon copy after an 1854 photograph ↗institutional photograph catalogue · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Object date, original photographer, later photographer, process, dimensions and recorded mount markings. Accessed 2026-11-02.Actual relevant catalogue body and recorded markings read. The carbon print and its original negative were not physically examined.Return to An exposure and a later print, paragraph 1 ↑
  2. National Portrait Gallery. Maharaja Duleep Singh, NPG x1506 ↗institutional photograph catalogue · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Photographer, circa 1864 date, albumen carte-de-visite process, image dimensions and Clive Holland 1959 acquisition. Accessed 2026-11-02.Actual relevant complete object record read. A display label dated 22 June 2023 is not the photograph date. Neither the print nor its mount was independently examined; related school and large-print presentations share the same work family.Return to A portrait and its acquisition, paragraph 1 ↑
  3. National Trust Collections. Studio portrait of Duleep Singh, NT 1520160 ↗institutional photograph catalogue · Source date: publication date not established · Locator: Studio attribution, 1860–1870 date, albumen/card format, markings and Fenton/BFI/National Trust provenance. Accessed 2026-11-02.Actual complete relevant object description and provenance read. Studio authorship remains qualified. Matching sitter, studio and format do not establish that this and NPG x1506 are the same physical print. The original card and inscriptions were not independently examined. On 5 November 2026, a web reader returned an indexed object record, while local requests redirected or encountered a security check; access may vary by client.Return to Studio attribution and later custody, paragraph 1 ↑
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Record PH-COL-0062 · English edition · human review not performed