About this sheet
This hand coloured copper engraving of eight tropical reef fishes, angelfishes, butterflyfishes and a fish resembling the Moorish idol, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, engraved by J. X. Schmuzer. It is among the most decorative fish plates of the whole work, crowded with stripes, bands and trailing fins.
The heading reads Fische, Pisces and Poissons, plate VIII, and the mark at lower right reads II.B.41 beneath the signature J. X. Schmuzer. A yellow angelfish with long sweeping fins and a blue lined angelfish lead the plate, followed by banded butterflyfishes in black, white, blue and yellow, a sickle finned idol, a bannerfish, and a fish with a violet saddle. The species are identified here by appearance only.
The Vienna edition was published by Anton Pichler under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnügen der Jugend, with German and French text, in volumes of fifty plates each, and its plates were newly engraved in Vienna, many of them by the brothers Jacob Xaver and J. J. Schmuzer. It follows the Weimar original of Friedrich Justin Bertuch, the great illustrated encyclopaedia for children issued by the Landes Industrie Comptoir from 1790 onwards, subject for subject, and it was sold with the plates coloured by hand. The small mark at the foot, giving the Vienna volume and plate number, is what distinguishes these sheets from the Weimar issue. As a copper engraving coloured by hand for a teaching book, it combines scientific ambition with a direct, appealing clarity. This sheet comes from Vienna volume II, which places it circa 1801 to 1807.
A plate like this suits a kitchen, a dining room, a study or a coastal house, and it hangs well in a group with other Bertuch fish plates, where the colour and the consistent format of the series make a lively and coherent wall.
The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a small chip at one corner, a nick at the right edge and a small smudge and pencil number in the lower left margin.
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.
