The Two-Headed Serpent and the Black Butterfly, 1749
€ 390
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1749
Sheet size
37 × 25 cm (14.6 × 9.8 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-13674-5
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
Good condition with the original hand coloring still very vivid and vibrant. The paper is chain-lined with strong plate marks and watermark. General age related toning and minor foxing. A dirt spot in the title. Left border rough.
About this sheet
The two-headed snake and the black butterfly, an original hand-colored copper engraving from Johann Michael Seligmann's natural history series, published in Nuremberg in 1749. The plate is lettered "Die Zweyköpfige Schlange." at the top with "Tab. CII." at the upper right, and below the image "Serpens dilute fuscus, Barbadensis, biceps." together with the French "Le Serpent à deux Têtes. Le Papillon Noir."
Two butterflies fill the upper part of the sheet, one seen from above and one in profile, with dark gray-black wings marked with red and blue near the body. Below them a pale brown snake lies coiled in a loop on a patch of turf, with a head at each end of its body, and two enlarged views of the paired heads stand at either side. The Latin line names the snake as a pale brown, two-headed one from Barbados.
The credit line "G. Edwards ad viv. delin." shows that the drawing is after George Edwards, with Seligmann as publisher and Sebastian Leitner the younger as engraver.
