About this sheet
This hand coloured copper engraving of fishes of the cod family, the pollack, the ling, the burbot and the toadfish, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, engraved by Jacob Xaver Schmuzer. Dealers list the plate as Verschiedene Arten von Schellfischen, various kinds of haddock fishes, after the Bilderbuch text.
The heading reads Fische, Pisces and Poissons, plate XXXVI, and the mark at lower right reads VIII.B.26 beneath the signature Jacob Xaver Schmuzer. The long ling with its chin barbel fills the foot of the sheet, above it the burbot is marbled in black and gold, the small pollack sits at the top, and the toadfish is shown from the side and from above.
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 VIII, 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, small edge nicks and a brown stain beside one fish in the image.
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.
