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Bird Print of an American Goldfinch on a Branch Engraved and Hand-Colored, 1749
$550 (£415, €490)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1749
- Size
- 16.3 × 9.8 in (41.5 × 25 cm)
- Condition
- Good. Good. General age related toning, foxing and soiling, mostly in the margins. A brownish hue on the platemark, due to aging and having been framed or matted in the past. One edge cut rough. Study the images carefully.
- Period
- 18th century
- Section
- Birds
- Reference
- f_38317382
American goldfinch on an acacia branch, an original hand-colored copper engraving from Johann Michael Seligmann's natural history series, published in Nuremberg in 1749. The plate is lettered "Der americanische Stieglitz." with "Tab. LXXXVI." at the upper right, and below the image "Carduelis Americanus." and "Chardonneret de l'Amerique.", with the imperial privilege "Cum Privil. Sac. Caes. Majestatis" printed at the foot.
The male goldfinch, with a black forehead, bright yellow body and black wings edged in white, perches on a branch of finely divided pinnate leaves. Four large, dark brown seed pods hang from the lower stem. A small Latin label to the right of the pods names the plant as an acacia ("Acacia Abrus foliis...").
The credit lines identify the bird as drawn from life by Mark Catesby ("M. Catesby ad vivum delin.") and the plate as engraved and published by J.M. Seligmann. Catesby's drawings of Carolina birds were reissued on the Continent in this way, with the names given in German, Latin and French.
