Hand-Colored Print of Ancient American Figures, Pre-1500 Indigenous Art, ca.1880

1500 · Views & Engravings

Hand-Colored Print of Ancient American Figures, Pre-1500 Indigenous Art, ca.1880

Name: Hand-Colored Print of Ancient American Figures, Pre-1500 Indigenous Art, ca.1880
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13129-149
Price: 290 USD
Availability: InStock

$290

€260 · 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: 1500
Kind: Views & Engravings
Size: 31.5 × 23.5 cm (12.4 × 9.3 in)
Condition: Good. Very good condition for age. Mild toning to the margins, a few small edge spots, and very light handling marks typical of early 20th-century paper. Image area clean with strong, even color.
Period: Colonial America
Reference: BG-13129-149

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

Pre-Columbian America in a single sheet, an original color-printed plate by Max Tilke, published by Ernst Wasmuth A.G. in Berlin, numbered 149 and captioned "Amerika, Um 1500" in German, with "America" and "Amerique" below. The image is signed "Max Tilke F." at the lower left, and the individual figures are numbered within the picture.

The sheet is a scattered arrangement of small figures and objects on the cream ground, each drawn in outline with red-orange and ochre washes. At the top stand three feathered warriors with shields, clubs and crested headdresses. Below them are a drummer, a figure bearing offerings, archers, and a row of smaller figures carrying bundles, with isolated profile heads and ornaments. The lower register shows two seated figures with elaborate headdresses and ornaments, one on a jaguar-form seat, and between them a large enthroned figure under a tall feather fan, with ritual vessels beside it. The forms are taken from codices, reliefs and sculpture of Mexico and the Maya region.

Tilke's plates were reconstructions made for a general history of costume and ornament, so the sheet works as a compact visual survey of Mesoamerican dress and regalia.

★