About this sheet
This hand coloured copper engraving of the cod, the stockfish, the plaice and the haddock comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, initialled J. X. S. for Jacob Xaver Schmuzer. The Bilderbuch groups them as Stockfische, the fishes of the great northern dried fish trade, and the plaice with its orange spots makes a handsome centrepiece.
The heading reads Fische, Pisces and Poissons, plate V, and the mark at lower right reads I.B.36 beneath the initials. The plaice lies at the top, the large golden brown cod below it, then the stockfish and the smaller haddock at the foot, each numbered for the text. It is one of the earliest fish plates in the work, from the first Vienna volume.
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 I, 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, faint show through of the text on the reverse and a few small spots of foxing in the margins; the fish are clean and bright.
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.
