Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845

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Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, close-up 1Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, close-up 2Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, close-up 3Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, close-up 4Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, close-up 5

Framed and on the wall

Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, shown framedAntique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, shown framed on a wallAntique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845, shown framed in a room

Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.

Antique Shark Illustration, Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845

€760 ($855, £645, €760)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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Date
1845
Size
13.4 × 19.2 in (34 × 48.7 cm)
Condition
Good. Very good condition. Minor scattered foxing in the margins and slight age-related toning. Plate mark present. No visible tears or restoration.
Period
Early 19th century
Section
Fish and shells
Reference
f_45531802

The tope shark, a hand-colored lithograph from the French scientific publication Voyage en Islande et au Groenland, published in Paris by Arthus Bertrand around 1845. The plate is headed "Zoologie," numbered "Poissons Pl. 21" at the upper right, and titled "Le Milandre" below the main figure.

The shark is shown in profile with its body curved, snout pointed and yellow eye bright, drawn in soft gray, cream and warm brown tones with a long pale belly and a crescent tail fin. At the lower left, a ventral view of the head shows the mouth and a row of teeth, with two small studies of individual teeth beside it. According to the old description the plate was drawn by Louis Bévalet and engraved by H. Blanchard.

The tope is a houndshark of temperate and cold seas, now called Galeorhinus galeus, and the plate was prepared for the zoology volumes of the voyage to Iceland and Greenland, a French expedition of the late 1830s.