Gnat with Magnified Feathered Head, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1805

This hand colored copper engraving of a gnat, with its head and feathered antennae greatly magnified, together with moths and a caterpillar, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch, engraved by Jacob Xaver Schmuzer. The enlarged head with its plumed antennae and long piercing mouthparts dominates the center of the sheet.

The heading reads Insecten, Insecta and Insectes, plate XVI, and the mark at lower right reads V.B.45 beside the signature Jacob Xaver Schmuzer. Around the magnified head are the whole insect at life size and enlarged, a banded caterpillar, and two moths, one pinkish with dark spotted wings and one pale moth shown beside a cluster of eggs. The identification of the moths is not made here, as the text leaf is not present.

The Vienna edition was published by Anton Pichler under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnügen der Jugend, with German and French text, in volumes of fifty plates each, and its plates were newly engraved in Vienna, many of them by the brothers Jacob Xaver and J. J. Schmuzer. It follows the Weimar original of Friedrich Justin Bertuch, the great illustrated encyclopaedia for children issued by the Landes Industrie Comptoir from 1790 onwards, subject for subject, and it was sold with the plates colored by hand. The small mark at the foot, giving the Vienna volume and plate number, is what distinguishes these sheets from the Weimar issue. As a copper engraving colored by hand for a teaching book, it combines scientific ambition with a direct, appealing clarity. This sheet comes from Vienna volume V, which places it circa 1801 to 1807.

A plate like this suits a study, a library or a collection of early natural history, and it hangs well in a group with other Bertuch insect and microscope plates, where the variety of subjects and the consistent format of the series come into their own.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few specks and a small chip at the lower left corner; the image is clean and finely detailed.

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