Peter Neff Jr (active XIX cent.)
Portrait of an Indian Man, c.1858

A sixth plate (2¾ x 3¼ in) tintype, half-length portrait of an Indian Man, in a white tunic and turban, in a plain brass matt, with oval aperture, lightly engraved around the margins, decorated brass preserver, velvet-lined, in a double-sided hinged brown morocco case, with a gilt brass button on upper case.
Annotated in pencil in the inner case: 'Anand Chunder Mitter. Calcutta, Aug 6th 58'.

This is an early example of tintype using the melainotype process, where 'melaino' means dark or black. The tintype process was invented in 1852 by Adolphe Alexander Martin (1824-1896). The melainotype process was developed in America in 1854 by Hamilton Smith (1819-1903), a chemistry professor at Kenyon College in Ohio, and then he sold the patent rights to Peter Neff Jr., one of Smith's students. The melainotype process was patented on 19 February 1856. The use of an iron plate instead of glass greatly reduced the cost of the photograph.