Globe Fish and Coffer Fish, Antique Chromolithograph by P. J. Smit, 1896

This is an original antique chromolithograph, printed in color, from 1896. The caption printed beneath the image reads "GLOBE FISH AND COFFER FISH."

Four fish are set one above another over a sandy bottom in olive water. At the top a green and cream fish covered in fine spines faces right, its fins pale and dotted with black. Beside it at the right a small orange brown fish is seen nearly head on. In the middle a large brown coffer fish, its body enclosed in a box of hexagonal plates, swims to the left with its tail fin trailing at the right. At the bottom a fish with a dark blue back swims to the right with its white, spotted belly swollen into a round bag. Branching growths rise from the sand, spiky red forms sit at the upper left and at the right beside the tail of the coffer fish, and a shell lies in the lower left corner.

The plate is signed in the image at the lower right 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.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Handling soiling along the top edge. A few small foxing spots in the margin. The left and bottom sheet edges are not visible in the photographs.

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