Antique Natural HistoryOriginal plates from the naturalists' books, 1600s to 1900s
Mauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873
Mauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873, view 2
Mauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873, view 3
Mauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873, view 4

Framed and on the wall

Mauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873, shown framedMauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873, shown framed on a wallMauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873, shown framed in a room

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

Mauchamp Merino Ram and Ewe, Rambouillet, Antique Sheep Print, 1873

$415 (£315, €370)

Period original, not a reproduction.

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

Date
1873
Technique
Lithograph
Coloring
Uncolored
Condition
Good. Good condition with age toning, scattered foxing and minor marginal marks. A small pale stain is visible near the upper center. Sold unframed. Please review the images for further condition details.
Period
Late 19th century
Section
Mammals
Reference
BG-13538-24
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.

This antique sheep print shows a Mauchamp Merino ram and ewe at Rambouillet, drawn and lithographed by F. Lehnert for the French agricultural album of the Vienna Exposition, 1873. The Mauchamp Merino was the silky fleeced strain that arose from a single ram born at Mauchamp in 1828 and was fixed by careful selection.

It is one of the classic documented cases of a useful mutation being caught and bred on, which gives the plate an interest for the history of animal breeding and of natural science that reaches well beyond the farmyard.

The sheet comes from the folio of maps, plans and drawings that the Direction de l'Agriculture of the French Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce assembled for its own exhibit at the Exposition Universelle held in Vienna in 1873, printed in Paris by the Imprimerie Nationale. The album gathered the statistical cartography, the model state farms, the breed portraits and the prize silver by which France meant to present its agriculture to the world. Its thematic maps belong to the first generation of printed statistical mapping, a field now collected for the history of data visualization quite as much as for the history of farming.

The print is a lithograph, issued in 1873. It is uncolored. This antique sheep print would suit a farmhouse kitchen, a study or a country interior, and it will interest collectors of animal art, sheep breeding and the history of wool.

The sheet is in good condition, with age toning, scattered foxing and minor marginal marks. A small pale stain is visible near the upper center. The toning is the ordinary result of age rather than damage. Please see the images for a full view of the condition.

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.

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