Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look; the description says what is included.
Large Antique Bird Print of a White Bellied Caribbean Martin, circa 1807
£455 ($605, €540)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1807
- Size
- 20.3 × 13.5 in (51.5 × 34.4 cm)
- Condition
- Good. General age-related toning. Minor wear and foxing, blank verso. Please study image carefully.
- Period
- Early 19th century
- Section
- Birds
- Reference
- f_39082712
Male white-bellied martin, an original hand-colored engraving titled "L'Hirondelle à ventre blanc, m.le", with the Latin name "Hirundo dominicensis", from Louis Jean Pierre Vieillot's Histoire naturelle des oiseaux de l'Amérique septentrionale, published about 1807. The plate is lettered "pl. 28", and the credits below read "Prêtre pinx.", "Langlois imp." and "Bouquet sculp.", naming the painter, the printer and the engraver.
The bird perches on a lichen-covered branch with a fork at the top, facing right, drawn at about life size on a large open sheet. Its head, back and wings are a glossy deep blue, its breast and belly clear white, and the folded wings and forked tail are tipped with brown. The feathers on the head and neck are drawn in fine scale-like strokes, with the color printed and finished by hand.
The bird is the Caribbean martin, Progne dominicensis, a swallow of the West Indies, and the plate is the companion of the female on plate 29.
