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1998, Paul Cilliers, Complexity and Postmodernism: Understanding Complex Systems, Psychology Press, →ISBN, page 112:
The traditional (or modern) way of confronting complexity was to find a secure point of reference that could serve as foundation, a passe-partout, a master key from which everything else could be derived.
A light pictureframe or mat of cardboard, wood, etc., usually put between the picture and the glass, and sometimes serving for several pictures.
1933, William Crookes, T. A. Malone, George Shadbolt, J. Traill Taylor, William Blanchard Bolton, Thomas Bedding, The British Journal of Photography:
A new introduction for use in conjunction with passe-partout framing is a series of corner pieces which are readily folded round the corners of the finished passe-partout, giving it a certain added effect and slight embellishment.
Ce dessin [de Marie Laurencin] est ravissant et extrêmement touchant, faites-lui mettre une petite baguette très étroite et un verre. Il est à nous et c’est un petit chef-d’œuvre. Il ne faut point de passe-partout et que l’encadreur n’en rogne rien, laissant visible tout le blanc.
The drawing is beautiful and extremely moving; have it fitted with a very narrow little frame and a piece of glass. It is ours and it is a small masterpiece. There must be no matte, and the framer must not trim anything, but leave all the empty space visible.
mat, matting: a light pictureframe or mat of cardboard, wood, etc., usually put between the picture and the glass, and sometimes serving for several pictures.