Blue Shark, Antique Chromolithograph after P. J. Smit, 1896

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in color, from 1896. The caption printed beneath the image reads "BLUE SHARK."

Two blue sharks swim through brown green water. The larger, in the lower half of the plate, runs on a diagonal from its tail at the upper left to its pointed snout at the right, its back slate blue, its belly white and its long pectoral fin reaching down below the body. The smaller shark swims above it in the opposite direction, its head at the left and its tail at the upper right. Ahead of the large shark a small shoal of red fish swims at the lower right, a single red fish is drawn at the lower left, and pink weed grows in the background.

The plate is signed in the image at the lower left by P. J. Smit. No plate number or printer's line appears on the sheet.

The plate comes from The Royal Natural History, a popular illustrated natural history in six volumes edited by the zoologist Richard Lydekker and published in London by Frederick Warne and Co. in 1893 to 1896. The title page that accompanies these plates is dated 1896, which is the date given for this sheet.

Even age toning. Marked handling soiling along the bottom, left and right edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. All four corners are present.

This is an original antique plate, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.