Bas-relief portion of frieze with harvesting satyr in terra cotta

The relief portrays a mythological satyr, a creature associated with rustic revelry, shown amid agricultural activity. The figure’s dynamic pose and the surrounding motifs emphasize themes of fertility and the cyclical nature of harvest, linking classical iconography with everyday labor.

Laffon employed the wet‑collodion process, the dominant photographic method of the 1860s, to capture fine tonal contrasts on glass. The resulting image renders the shallow carving depth and the subtle surface texture of the terra‑cotta, allowing viewers to discern the sculptural details despite the medium’s two‑dimensionality.

The photograph entered the V&A’s collection shortly after its creation, when the museum was actively expanding its photographic archive. In 1864 the institution purchased a set of 500 images from Laffon through the dealer Monsieur E. Cappe, integrating them into the National Art Library’s resources for teaching and research.

Laffon’s work exemplifies the early involvement of women photographers in museum documentation, a contribution often overlooked in nineteenth‑century histories. Her images served the V&A’s educational mission, providing artists, students, and curators with visual references that complemented traditional drawing and plaster casts.

The plate remains a reference point for scholars studying both the Campana Collection’s classical artifacts and the development of museum photography. It illustrates how photographic reproduction expanded access to distant objects, shaping curatorial practice and art‑historical scholarship in the decades that followed.