Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Pelican by Seligman, c.1770
£585 ($775, €690)
Period original, not a reproduction.
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. Edges sharp; no tears, no folds. Some handling marks, mostly outside plate-mark, not affecting image quality. Please study the images carefully.
- Period
- 18th century
- Section
- Birds
- Reference
- f_42305852
The brown pelican, titled "Der americanische Pelican", in an original hand-colored copperplate engraving from Johann Michael Seligmann's Sammlung verschiedener ausländischer und seltener Vögel, Nuremberg, circa 1770. The plate is numbered "Tab. LXXXI" at the upper left and lettered below with the Latin "Onocratalus, Americanus", "N° 81 IV Theil" and the French "Le Pelican de l'Amerique", with the credit "G. Edwards ad viv. delin." at the lower left and Seligmann's "excud." at the lower right.
A single pelican stands in profile facing left on a pale rock rising from a still stretch of water. The head and neck are white with a dark patch at the eye, the long bill is yellow with a red tip and a loose, pale pouch below it, and the body is gray-black with edged feathers and a hint of brown at the shoulder. The webbed feet are yellow. Beside the rock, a branched coral stands at the left, and shells in pink and purple lie at the right edge, making it a coastal scene.
The drawing is by George Edwards, whose volumes on rare birds gave European readers some of the first accurate pictures of American species, and Seligmann translated his plates for German buyers with captions in German, Latin and French.
