Antique Bird Print of the Black-Cheek Cat Bird by Elliot, c.1873

€ 1 750

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1873
Sheet size: 56 × 38.5 cm (22.0 × 15.2 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-06241

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.

About this sheet

Black-eared catbird (Ailuraedus melanotus), an original lithograph with hand coloring from Daniel Giraud Elliot's A Monograph of the Paradiseidae, or Birds of Paradise, dated c.1873. The plate is lettered "Ailuraedus melanotus" beneath the image, and the printer's imprint of Hanhart appears at the lower right.

A single bird perches on a heavy bare branch, its head turned downward and its beak open slightly. The mantle and wings are a deep olive green, edged with yellow along the feathers, and the underside is yellowish, scalloped with dark margins. A dark patch surrounds the eye. Behind the bird a soft tinted oval sets it off against the plain paper, and a trailing twig with brown and purplish autumn leaves hangs below the branch.

Elliot's Monograph of the Paradiseidae treated the birds of paradise of New Guinea and neighboring islands, and the catbird is a bowerbird of that region and northern Australia. The old listing blends this plate with Elliot's earlier American work, but the species shown here is not North American.