Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Capelin & Smelt, Antique Ichthyology Print, Greenland, Gaimard Voyage 1842
$760 (£575, €680)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1842
- Size
- 21.7 × 14 in (55 × 35.5 cm)
- Condition
- Good. Condition report: Good impression with original hand coloring. Wide margins with light age toning and scattered foxing, mainly in the outer sheet, leaving the images clear and vibrant. Plate mark visible.
- Period
- Early 19th century
- Section
- Fish and shells
- Reference
- f_46526032
- Colour
- Hand coloured
What the condition grades mean
- Excellent
- Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
- Very good
- Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
- Good
- Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
- Fair
- Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.
Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.
Two small North Atlantic fish on one sheet, the capelin (Mallotus villosus) and the smelt (Osmerus eperlanus), an original hand-colored plate from Paul Gaimard's Voyage en Islande et au Groenland, published in Paris in 1842. The two figures are lettered "Le Lodde Capelan" and "L'Éperlan", each with its Linnaean name and "(Islande)".
The capelin is shown at the top in profile, slim, with a dark brown back, a yellow gill cover and a green and silver flank. The smelt below it has an open mouth with visible teeth, and its sides are tinted green and pink. Between the two figures sits a small outline drawing of a fish head, shown front on, which is an anatomical detail of the smelt.
Gaimard's expedition of 1835 was sent to find the lost Arctic expedition of Jean de Blosseville and became a survey of Iceland and Greenland. Louis Bévalet drew the zoological plates, and J. Bernard lithographed them in Paris.
