Bas-relief portion of a frieze of a flying genie in terra cotta

The relief portrays a winged, human-like figure, likely drawn from Assyrian or Near Eastern iconography, hovering above a small putto. The juxtaposition of the divine or supernatural being with the playful child suggests a narrative of protection or whimsical guardianship. Laffon’s photograph preserves the intricate carving details, emphasizing the symbolic richness of ancient decorative arts as interpreted through 19th-century European collecting practices.

Laffon employed the albumen print process, common in mid-19th-century photography, to render fine surface textures with clarity. Her composition isolates the relief against a neutral background, prioritizing documentary precision over artistic embellishment. The lighting is even and controlled, allowing the carved contours and weathering of the terra cotta to be clearly visible, aligning with the museum’s goal of accurate visual documentation for study.

The photograph was purchased by the V&A in 1864 through Parisian agent E. Cappe, as part of a larger acquisition from Laffon’s series of the Campana Collection. Laffon, one of the earliest documented female members of Le Société Française de la Photographie, contributed to institutional efforts to build visual archives. The image entered the museum’s National Art Library collection, where it served scholars and designers alongside other photographic reproductions.

In the 1860s, museums increasingly turned to photography to expand access to artworks beyond physical visitation. The V&A, among the first to collect photographs, used them to support design education and cross-cultural study. Laffon’s work exemplifies how European institutions relied on international photographers to document antiquities, bridging archaeological discovery and artistic training through reproducible imagery.

Laffon’s photograph remains a key example of early institutional photography’s role in art education. It illustrates how women photographers, often overlooked, contributed significantly to museum archives. The image endures not as art in itself, but as a functional record that facilitated the transmission of historical design motifs to 19th-century designers, shaping the study of ornament and form.