Japanese Moray Eel and Conger, Perry Expedition Lithograph, 1856
€ 245
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1856
Mapmaker / artist
James Carson Brevoort, with the figures drawn by the artists of the United States Japan Expedition
Publisher
Published by order of the Congress of the United States, Washington
Technique
Lithograph
Coloring
Printed color
Sheet size
22 × 29.5 cm (8.7 × 11.6 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-14475-2-9
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
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Slight wear at the top left corner.
About this sheet
This is an original antique lithographed plate of Japanese fishes from the official report of Commodore Perry's expedition to Japan, the eleventh plate of its natural history series. Two eels wind across the plate: the kidako moray Muraena kidako, lettered as drawn at natural size and marked in dark blotches, and below it a plainer Anguilla. Both are numbered and named in Latin at the foot under the heading Natural History Plate the eleventh.
The plate was issued with the official Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan under Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, printed at Washington in 1856 by order of Congress. The fish were drawn from fresh specimens by the expedition's own artists while the squadron lay in Japanese waters, and the notes on them were written by the naturalist James Carson Brevoort. The drawing on this plate is credited to H. Patterson.
The kidako moray is the common moray of the Japanese coast and still carries that name today. Eels make unusually graphic prints because the body fills the whole width of the sheet in one long curve, and this plate uses the shape well. The plates frame well in a simple pale frame and look well in a run of two or three along a hallway, a kitchen or a bathroom wall.
Light uneven toning, browner toward the edges. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Slight wear at the top left corner.
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.
