Five Spiny Finned Fishes, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1820

About this sheet

This hand coloured copper engraving of five fishes, including a large spiny finned fish with a spotted dorsal fin and a heavy bodied fish with a red stripe along its flank, comes from the later Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch. The species have not been established with confidence, so the plate is described here by what can be seen. The specific subject is not yet established and is being checked against the Bilderbuch text.

The heading reads Fische LXIII and Poissons LXIII, and the mark at lower right reads XX.B.28. The figures are numbered one to five and are coloured in restrained greens, greys and silver, with a small goby like fish and a slender silvery fish completing the sheet.

The later volumes of the Vienna edition, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnügen der Jugend, continued the reprint of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Weimar Bilderbuch fuer Kinder in volumes of fifty plates each, with German and French headings in place of the three languages of the earlier plates. The Weimar original, the great illustrated encyclopaedia for children issued by the Landes Industrie Comptoir from 1790 onwards, was followed subject for subject, and the plates were sold 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 XX, which places it circa 1818 to 1822.

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 paler strip along the right edge and a few small spots; the image is otherwise 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.