Pre-Battle Rituals: The King of Florida and His Magician, ca.1780

Name: Pre-Battle Rituals: The King of Florida and His Magician, ca.1780
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13599-57
Price: 435 USD
Availability: InStock

$435

€390 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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

Date: 1780
Kind: Views & Engravings
Size: 23 × 39 cm (9.1 × 15.4 in)
Condition: Good. Good condition. Aged paper with sometimes light brownish edges and soiling due to age and handling. A small brown dirt spot in left top. Study the images carefully.
Period: The Early Republic
Places: Florida
Reference: BG-13599-57

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

A King of Florida consulting his magician before going into battle, an original copper engraving made for Portlock's New Collection of Voyages & Travels, dated about 1780. The running title is engraved across the top, and the caption beneath the image reads "A King of Florida consulting his Magician previous to his going to Battle."

The scene is a crowded ceremonial gathering. At the center a kneeling figure, the magician, stands on a round disc marked with signs and bends forward with his arms raised behind his head. At the right the king kneels or sits holding a staff, a large round ornament on his chest. Behind them a throng of warriors stands in a half circle, wearing feathered headdresses and kilts and carrying bows, shields and spears, with the spear points rising in a row above the crowd.

The image follows the sixteenth century French and English accounts of the Timucua peoples of Florida, which circulated in many later compilations of voyages, so the costume and ritual are an eighteenth century engraver's reconstruction rather than an eyewitness view.

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