American Hunters and Wild Cats – Antique Mayer Engraving c.1840
€ 170
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1840
Sheet size
25.7 × 20.5 cm (10.1 × 8.1 in)
Condition
Good
Reference
BG-13836-27
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 for age. Light overall toning, faint foxing to margins, some minor creasing to corners and edges, not affecting the main image. Strong plate mark with fine detail preserved. No tears or repairs.
About this sheet
The wildlife and hunters of the Americas on a single sheet, an original steel engraving titled "America," lettered "Stahlstich v. Carl Mayer's Kunst-Anstalt in Nürnberg" and dated by the gallery to about 1840. The sheet is printed in brown tones with partial hand color on the jaguar.
The top half of the sheet shows three big cats on rocky ground: a cougar at the left, a spotted jaguar at the right, and a black jaguar resting in the center, with a palm tree rising behind them. Below, a hunting party moves through dense tropical forest. A man in a white hat raises a rifle at the foot of a large tree, with two dogs at his side, and a small climbing animal sits on a branch overhead. A second hunter at the right levels his rifle, a short blade tucked in his belt, and a group of riders appears in the middle distance beneath palms and tree ferns, with mountains rising behind.
The engraving belongs to a series published at Nuremberg to show the animals, peoples and landscapes of the continents to a European public.
