Parisian mourning shop

An albumen print showing a view of a street, presumably in Paris. The shop on the left with its shutters up specialises in all the paraphernalia pertaining to the elaborate mourning rituals that developed in upper and middle-class society during the nineteenth century.

The name of the shop is 'Au Cypres, Magasin de Deuil', which translates as 'At the Cypress Tree, Shop of Mourning', the cypress tree having been associated with death and mourning for over 2000 years.

Photographer unidentified.