Hand-Colored Engraving of the American Duck with Broad Bill by Seligmann, c.1770
€ 540
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1770
Sheet size
37 × 25 cm (14.6 × 9.8 in)
Reference
BG-13968
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.
Condition
Good. Vibrant colors, minimal fading. Paper shows light toning and minor foxing. Some handling marks, mostly outside plate-mark, not affecting image quality.
About this sheet
A shoveler, titled "Americanische Ente mit breitem Schnabel", in an original hand-colored copperplate engraving from Johann Michael Seligmann's Sammlung verschiedener ausländischer und seltener Vögel, Nuremberg, circa 1770. The plate is numbered "Tab. XCII" at the upper right and lettered below with the Latin "Anas americanus late rostro", "N° 92 IV Theil" and the French "Canard d'Amerique au grand bec", with a credit line at the lower left that appears to read "M. Catesby ad viv. delin."
The duck stands on a patch of green ground with tufts of grass at both sides, seen from the side and turned to the right, with its head thrown back and its great spatulate bill raised. The body is drawn in soft brown scalloping, a pale blue patch with a white bar and a band of green marks the folded wing, and the legs and webbed feet are a bright orange-red. The bill is a rounded brown spoon, drawn as wide as the head, which is the feature that gave the bird its German name, "duck with a broad bill."
The shoveler was one of the American waterfowl that Catesby drew in the Carolinas for his Natural History, and Seligmann re-engraved such plates for German readers.
