A Copper Plate Engraving of Pipit Birds and Fig-eaters. By Francois-Nicholas Martinet. Hand coloured. Dated 1770. 25 x 34.7 cms. .
A Copper Plate Engraving of Pipit Birds and Fig-eaters. By Francois-Nicholas Martinet. Hand coloured. Dated 1770. 25 x 34.7 cms. .
1. Pipit bleu de Cayenne. 2. Petit Figuier de Madagascar. 3. Figuier de l’Ile de Bourbon.. 4. Pipit verd. 5. Figuier brun de S. Domingue.
1. Blue pipit, Cayenne. 2. Small fig-eater, Madagascar. 3. Fig-eater, Borbon Isle. 4. Green pipit. 5. Brown fig-eater, Saint Dominique.
An original copper plate engraving.
Drawn and engraved by Francois-Nicholas Martinet.
Hand coloured. Printed on strong cream coloured paper.
From The Comte de Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux, published in Paris from 1770 to 1786. Book 3. Plate 28.
Size: 25 x 38 cms with the engraved part of the image measuring 23.5 x 29 cms.
Dated 1770.
Condition: Very Good. The engraved part of the image does not sit evenly on the paper upon which it has been printed. There is a strong crease running vertically through the center of the engraving and a lesser crease to the far left. This is in consequence of the image having been folded into a book. There are two dark marks at the bottom of the paper and residue from tape at two of the the edges; but these would be hidden were the image mounted for framing. There is a faint spot of foxing and two small dark marks on the image itself. It is otherwise fresh and clean.