Antique Print of Natives in Florida Making Offerings to the Sun God, ca.1730

About this piece

Two copper-engraved scenes of Floridian sun worship on one sheet, from the Dutch edition of Bernard Picart's Naaukeurige Beschryving der Godtsdienst-Plichten, Kerk-Zeden en Gewoontens van alle Volkeren der Waereldt, published around 1730. The upper plate is lettered "Sacrifice que les Floridiens font au Soleil, de leurs Premiers nez," and the lower "Ofrande que les Floridiens font d'un Cerf au Soleil."

In the upper scene a group of young women dance in a loose circle on open ground near a palm and a rock, with a crouching figure and a block at the center and a row of standing men at the right. In the lower scene, kneeling and standing men raise their arms toward a stag set on the top of a tall pole, with a rocky mountain behind them and the sun's rays fanning across the sky.

Picart's work, called Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses in its French edition, was the most elaborate history of world religion published up to that time. Its plates were adapted by Picart and others from various sources, including the engravings of Theodor de Bry, and the Florida scenes are European images of reports from the sixteenth century rather than eyewitness views.