Porcelain tombstone photos
During my visits to one of the cemeteries in Ghent, Flanders Begium, I regularly took pictures of porcelain grave photos.
These date from the early twentieth century. They were made by photosensitiveing the glaze of the porcelain plate, then printing and developing it like photographic paper. After baking, the porcelain plate with the photo was durable and could be attached to the gravestone like a tile.
The photo of the person, copied and cropped to create a negative, was provided by the deceased’s family. This could be a professional portrait, or a photo cut from a family photo.
I found porcelain photographs in good condition, but many also faded by poor quality or constant exposure to daylight. Unfortunately, many have also been broken due to vandalism.
More photos can be found on my Flickr pages: www.flickr.com/photos/juliensart/albums/
