Frog Print of Mexican Treefrog and Map Frog, c.1850, by Orbigny

Name: Frog Print of Mexican Treefrog and Map Frog, c.1850, by Orbigny
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13584-66
Price: 215 USD
Availability: InStock

$215

€190 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

Buy now Ask a question

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

Date: 1850
Kind: Birds, Plants & Natural History
Size: 24.7 × 16 cm (9.7 × 6.3 in)
Condition: Good. Minor foxing and age toning at margins, main image area clean and well preserved. Colors remain vivid. No tears or repairs. Strong impression with fine detailing.
Period: Westward Expansion & Civil War
Reference: BG-13584-66

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

Two frogs on a single plate, "Reptiles Pl. 15," an original hand-colored engraving from the Dictionnaire universel d'histoire naturelle, edited by Charles d'Orbigny and published in Paris around 1850. The plate was drawn by Oudart and engraved by Fournier, and the printed lettering gives "Pseudie de Mérian (Pseudis Merianae)" and "Trachycéphale géographique (Trachycephalus geographicus)."

The upper figure shows the Pseudis, a large, heavy-bodied frog with a blue-gray back and pale yellowish underside, long webbed hind feet and a blunt head, set on a shore with palms and broad leaves behind. The lower figure shows the geographic treefrog from above, with its limbs spread, its skin marked with a dark network of lines on a lighter ground and a touch of blue at the shoulders, among reeds on a sandy bank. Both are named at the foot of the sheet under the heading "Ordre des Batraciens Raniformes," with a note on their size relative to life.

The marbled markings on the second frog explain its name, and both species belong to the tropical amphibian fauna of South America, which French naturalists were then describing from museum collections.

★