Japanese Reef Fish, Six Figures, Perry Expedition Lithograph, 1856
€ 270
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-14475-2-4
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. All four corners complete.
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 sixth plate of its natural history series. Six fishes are arranged across the plate in strong color and numbered one to six, with Etroplus fumosus and Apistus rubripinnis lettered as drawn the size of life. They include the banded pennant coralfish Heniochus macrolepidotus, the green damselfish Glyphisodon smaragdinus, the anemonefish Amphiprion frenatus and the armored pineapple fish Monocentris japonicus.
It belongs to the natural history plates of the official Perry expedition report, the Narrative of the Expedition of an American Squadron to the China Seas and Japan, published at Washington in 1856 by order of Congress. The figures were taken from recent specimens by the artists attached to the squadron, and James Carson Brevoort supplied the scientific notes. The drawing on this plate is credited to H. Patterson.
This is the brightest plate in the series and the one that reads as pure decoration from across a room, with an anemonefish and a pennant coralfish among its six figures. For a bathroom, a child's room or any coastal house it is the obvious sheet of the set. 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. All four corners complete.
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.
