Antique Shark Illustration – Tope Shark from Iceland-Greenland Voyage, 1845
€ 760
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1845
Sheet size
34 × 48.7 cm (13.4 × 19.2 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-09927
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
Very good condition. Minor scattered foxing in the margins and slight age-related toning. Plate mark present. No visible tears or restoration.
About this sheet
The tope shark, a hand-colored lithograph from the French scientific publication Voyage en Islande et au Groenland, published in Paris by Arthus Bertrand around 1845. The plate is headed "Zoologie," numbered "Poissons Pl. 21" at the upper right, and titled "Le Milandre" below the main figure.
The shark is shown in profile with its body curved, snout pointed and yellow eye bright, drawn in soft gray, cream and warm brown tones with a long pale belly and a crescent tail fin. At the lower left, a ventral view of the head shows the mouth and a row of teeth, with two small studies of individual teeth beside it. According to the old description the plate was drawn by Louis Bévalet and engraved by H. Blanchard.
The tope is a houndshark of temperate and cold seas, now called Galeorhinus galeus, and the plate was prepared for the zoology volumes of the voyage to Iceland and Greenland, a French expedition of the late 1830s.
