Elephant Seals on a Rocky Shore, Antique Bertuch Print, Vienna, circa 1809

This antique elephant seal print shows elephant seals resting on a rocky shore, with more seals in the surf and on the rocks beyond, on an original hand coloured plate from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch headed Amphibien XXIV, the plate of the proboscis seal.

Unlike most Bilderbuch plates, this one is a complete landscape. In the foreground two huge seals lie on a sandy beach strewn with kelp and shells, one showing its inflatable nose, while a third rises from the water at left. Further out, pairs of seals rest on rocks and a line of birds stands at the water's edge under a wide, cloudy sky. Bertuch, following the naturalists of his day, placed the seals among the amphibians because they live between land and sea.

The plate comes from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend. Its source is the celebrated Bilderbuch fuer Kinder, the picture book for children conceived and edited by Friedrich Justin Bertuch in Weimar, whose plates were engraved afresh by Viennese engravers for this edition. Most plates carry their subject class and number in German, Latin and French across the top, so that the work could teach languages as well as natural history. Here the heading belongs to the series of amphibians, a class in which Bertuch, following the naturalists of his day, grouped snakes, lizards, crocodiles, frogs and even seals. The small engraved mark XI.B.43 places the sheet in volume 11 of the Vienna edition, which corresponds to the sixth volume of the Weimar original, dated 1807, so this Vienna plate cannot be earlier than that.

It is a copperplate engraving, coloured by hand with watercolour in the manner of the Weimar original. The plate is signed by J. Pfitzer, one of the Viennese engravers who worked on this edition. Bertuch drew his images from the best natural history books of his time, and the result is a lively, accessible record of how the natural world was understood around 1800. Single plates from the Bilderbuch are popular with collectors of antique natural history prints, and a group of related plates makes a handsome display in a study, library or hallway.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a pale stain in the upper margin and small nicks at the lower edge, all clear of the image.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.