Female Lion
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Female Asiatic Elephant
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One-horned Rhinoceros
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Rhinoceros
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Asian Rhinoceros
Latin: Rhinoceros unicornis
German: Das asiatische Nashorn
Plate Number 55
8 x 12.5 inches, image, approximate
Condition: Very good with light edge wear, faint soiling.
Additional inscription: "In Zurich nach einem lebenden Thiere gezeichnet und lithographirt von J. Brodtmann. Lange des Thiers 14 Fuss, Hohe 6 Fuss, Alter 9 Jahre." [Drawn and lithographed by J. Brodtmann in Zurich after living animals. Length of the animal 14 feet, 6 feet high, age 9 years.]
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Plates of jungle animals - elephant, lion, and rhinoceros -- each sensitively rendered with attention to scientific detail. They are from a series of prints of the animal kingdom, including also monkeys, horses, reptiles, butterflies and insects. Some plates in the series also depict indigenous peoples. As was typical of 18th and early 19th century natural history studies, the animals are generally shown on a patch of landscape against a white background. These lithographs are early examples of educational natural history books about the animal kingdom, a genre which remained popular throughout the 19th century. They are also early examples of lithographic printing, which had been introduced by German inventor Alois Senefelder in the 1790s.
Karl Joseph Brodtmann was one of the most accomplished lithographers of his day, as well as a printseller and bookseller who lived in Zurich and Schaffhausen, Switzerland. His natural history lithographs include Heinrich Rudolf Schinz's natural history volumes on reptiles and birds, published in the early 1830s. Brodtmann also produced the offered folio natural history lithographs, probably also in the 1830s, as Naturhistorische Bilder Gallerie aus dem Theirreiche.
Condition: Generally very good with the usual overall light toning, wear, handling, soft creases, smudges. Particular condition issues shown for each print.
Reference:
Bénézit, E. Dictionnaire critique et documentaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs. France: Librairie Gründ, 1966. Vol. 2, p. 146.