A beautiful albumen contact print of a Japanese Thuja, or "graveyard tree," as this photograph is titled, "Thuya des Cimetières ou Japonica".

Thuja standishii (Japanese thuja) is a species of thuja, an evergreen coniferous tree in the cypress family Cupressaceae. It is native to southern Japan, where it occurs on the islands of Honshū and Shikoku. It is a medium-sized tree, reaching 20–35 m tall and with a trunk up to 1 m diameter. The foliage forms in flat sprays with scale-like leaves 2–4 mm long, matte green above, and with narrow white stomatal bands below. [Wikipedia]

This botanical document is a beautiful example of the photographic technique of using the plant as a negative. Making this kind of contact print was practiced by Fox Talbot and Anna Atkins in the early days of photography. It results in an aesthetically pleasing scientific document.

mount ca. 23,2 x 19,1 cm
albumen print ca. 16,5 x 11,4 cm