Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770

Close-ups

Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, close-up 1Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, close-up 2Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, close-up 3Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, close-up 4Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, close-up 5Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, close-up 6

Framed and on the wall

Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, shown framedHand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, shown framed on a wallHand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770, shown framed in a room

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

Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Blue-Winged Teal by Seligmann, ca.1770

£490 ($655, €580)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.

Date
1770
Size
14.6 × 9.8 in (37 × 25 cm)
Condition
Good. Vibrant colors, minimal fading. Paper shows light toning and minor foxing. Some handling marks, mostly outside plate-mark, not affecting image quality.
Period
18th century
Artist or book
Mark Catesby
Section
Birds
Reference
f_42338032

The blue-winged teal, titled "Blaues Americanisches Kriechentlein", in an original hand-colored copperplate engraving after Mark Catesby from Johann Michael Seligmann's Sammlung verschiedener ausländischer und seltener Vögel, Nuremberg, circa 1770. The plate is numbered "Tab. XCVIII" at the upper right and lettered below with the Latin "Querquedula americana fusca", "N° 98 IV Theil" and the French "Sarcelle brune de l'Amerique", with the credit "M. Catesby ad viv. delin." at the lower left.

The duck stands on a pale, mossy rock above a strip of still water, its head lowered and its bill pointing down toward the rock. The bird is shown in an unusual pose, with its back arched and its body held nearly horizontal. The plumage is brown and gray with fine barring, and the folded wing carries the bright pale blue patch that gives the bird its name, edged below with green and a white bar. The bill is dark with a pinkish edge, the eye is marked with a pale streak, and the webbed feet are gray-green.

The plate is one of many ducks and waterfowl taken from Catesby's Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, which Seligmann reissued with German, Latin and French captions for readers in Europe.