1867 Hand-Colored Lithograph of South American Butterflies and Passionflower

Name: 1867 Hand-Colored Lithograph of South American Butterflies and Passionflower
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13836-94
Price: 145 USD
Availability: InStock

$145

€130 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1867
Kind: Birds, Plants & Natural History
Size: 34.8 × 25.9 cm (13.7 × 10.2 in)
Condition: Good. Good condition, with vivid hand-coloring and fine details well-preserved. The paper shows light age-related toning, consistent with its history, and minor foxing confined to the margins. Mounted on a cream-colored mat with yellow borders.
Period: The Gilded Age
Places: The Guianas
Reference: BG-13836-94

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.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

Surinamische Schmetterlinge, an original lithograph of 1867 showing the butterflies of Surinam on a passionflower, printed in color with hand coloring. The German title "Surinamische Schmetterlinge" is lettered at the foot of the image, with the date "1867" at the lower left and the plate number at the lower right.

Six butterflies are drawn on a vine of passionflower (Passiflora), whose large white flowers with a purple-banded crown, curling tendrils and lobed green leaves fill the center of the sheet. At the upper left sits a green butterfly with red markings, and at the upper right a dark one with a green, blue-banded forewing and tail-like points. A black butterfly marked with yellow and orange runs across the middle, a large black and orange one with cream bands spreads its wings at the lower left, and a mottled brown one with an orange tip sits at the lower right. The figures are numbered for the plate's key.

The passion vine and the butterflies that feed on it were a favorite subject of the German natural history books of the period, which drew on collections from the Guianas.

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