Antique Whaling Scene Print with Bowhead Whale, Dolphin and Sea Lion, circa 1890

About this sheet

This antique natural history print shows a bowhead whale, a dolphin and a sea lion, an original plate from C. F. A. Kolb's Naturgeschichte der Säugethiere, published in Stuttgart by Hoffmann circa 1890. A great bowhead whale spouts in the foreground while whalers in a rowing boat close in with a harpoon and two sailing ships stand offshore, and a dolphin and a sea lion occupy the rocks and waves below.

The sheet is lettered 1. Abtheilung and Säugethiere 16. Blatt at the head, and every animal is numbered and named beneath the image in German Fraktur with its Latin name, here Wallfisch, Delphin and Ohrrobbe. Kolb added a lively human episode here, with a harpoon raised from a whaleboat and square rigged ships in the distance, which gives the plate strong appeal for maritime collectors as well as natural history enthusiasts.

Carl Friedrich August Kolb designed his Naturgeschichte der Säugethiere as an Anschauungs Unterricht für Schule und Haus, an object lesson for school and home, and the title page of this second edition announces 123 coloured figures on 18 double folio plates together with 63 woodcuts in the text. The publisher was the Hoffmann'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung of Wilhelm Nübling in Stuttgart, and the plates were printed by colour lithography, a process that allowed German publishers of the later nineteenth century to issue large, bright teaching images at a price schools and families could afford. Kolb arranged the mammals in systematic order across the series, so each sheet brings together related animals from several continents in a single imagined landscape. The whaling scene makes this one of the most dramatic and narrative sheets in the whole series.

With its broad double page format and lively colour, this chromolithograph suits a study, a library, a child's room or a natural history wall, and it can be grouped with other plates from the same series to build a set.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a faint centre fold as issued and a few spots and pale stains in the lower margins; the image is clean.

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.