This is a hand-colored print of a bird titled "Le Geai varié," which translates from French to "The Varied Jay." The bird is depicted perched on a branch, featuring a prominent crest, a gray body, and a notable blue patch on its wing. The background of the print is plain, drawing full attention to the bird and its detailed features.
The maker of the print is currently unknown, and more research is needed to accurately determine the creator. It is, however, likely that this print was produced in the 19th century, given the style and technique used in the illustration. The detailed and precise nature of the artwork suggests it may belong to the works of prominent ornithological illustrators of that era.
The technique used in this print is a combination of engraving and hand-coloring. The outline and details of the bird were likely created through an engraving process, where the image is incised onto a metal plate. This plate is then inked and pressed onto paper to produce the print. After the initial print was made, it was hand-colored to add vibrant and realistic hues to the bird, enhancing its visual appeal and accuracy. Hand-coloring was a common technique used in ornithological illustrations during the 18th and 19th centuries to bring the printed images to life.
The paper has a watermark with initials 'MB'. More research is needed.
Bartele Gallery. Original antique maps, sea charts, engravings and works on paper. This is a plain text rendering of a page that is otherwise built in the browser. The catalogue index is at https://www.bartele.net/catalogue and machine readable notes are at https://www.bartele.net/llms.txt.