Columbus Presenting Discovery of America to Ferdinand & Isabella, 1787

1787 · Views & Engravings

Columbus Presenting Discovery of America to Ferdinand & Isabella, 1787

Name: Columbus Presenting Discovery of America to Ferdinand & Isabella, 1787
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13599-98
Price: 330 USD
Availability: InStock

$330

€295 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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

Date: 1787
Kind: Views & Engravings
Size: 21.5 × 28.2 cm (8.5 × 11.1 in)
Condition: Good. Good antique condition with age-appropriate toning and light foxing. Minor handling marks and faint creases consistent with an eighteenth-century book plate. Plate mark visible.
Period: The Early Republic
Reference: BG-13599-98

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

Columbus presenting his account of the discovery of America to the Spanish sovereigns, an original copper engraving of 1787 from Bankes's New System of Geography. The words "Engraved for Bankes's New System of Geography, Published by Royal Authority" run across the top, the lower corners credit "Wale del." and "Grignion sculp.," and the caption below reads "Columbus presenting an Account of his Discovery of America to the King and Queen of Spain."

The scene is a court interior with a canopied dais at the left. The king, crowned and wearing an ermine-trimmed robe, and the queen stand together holding a large sheet, while Columbus kneels before them with a scroll and a gentleman looks on behind. At the right, soldiers with pikes and halberds and richly dressed courtiers stand on a paved floor beneath a round arch, which opens to a view of a tower and, beyond it, a ship's masts. A coat of arms hangs on the wall at the far left.

The plate is a frontispiece-style illustration of the discovery of the Americas, in the manner of late 18th-century geography books.

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