My uncle, at least I think he was my uncle, came back from far away places, India and beyond. He was footsore, and he wanted to rest for days, indeed weeks and months to recuperate. He brought with him iron-bound chests of rough-hewn wood. His caution to me not to open his luggage of course ignited my curiosity. One day when he went out on an errand to his man of business I rummaged through my uncle’s things. Amid old clothes and toiletries of the male persuasion, and statuary of unknown ancient deities, I found this hand-colored tintype, apparently ancient, but maybe more modern than I knew, wrapped in a tattered maroon cloth.

The model is A Nude Muse. She is also seen in the White Daemon Series.The technique is a single in-camera multiple exposure, overlaid in post-production with Daguerreotype and Tintype textures from Flypaper. For related images, see my Multiple Exposures series.