Goldeneye Drake Standing at the Water's Edge after Lilian Medland, c. 1909

This is an original antique photogravure, printed in black and gray without added color, showing a drake Goldeneye standing on wet ground at the edge of the water and facing left. The large dark head is puffed at the crown, with a pale eye and the round white spot at the base of the short bill. The neck, breast and flank are white, the back black, and long white scapulars with black edges lie across the folded wing. The legs are set well back, with the webbed feet spread on the wet surface.

No name of the bird is printed on the plate. The lettering below the image reads "1/2 scale" at the center and "PLATE CLXXXIV." at the right, the fraction giving the size of the drawing against the living bird, and the faint signature "L. M. Medland" appears at lower right of the image. The white spot before the eye and the high, rounded head identify the drake Goldeneye.

Charles Stonham's The Birds of the British Islands was published in London by E. Grant Richards in five volumes between 1906 and 1911, and this plate belongs to the third volume, which carries the account through the cormorants, herons, geese, swans and ducks. All of the plates are after drawings by Lilian M. Medland, who later married the ornithologist Tom Iredale and moved to Australia. Her drawings were reproduced in photogravure, a photomechanical intaglio process that keeps the soft gradations of tone of the original drawing, and the printed surface sits within a plate mark.

The single upright figure on a plain ground makes a clean, well centered image for a study or hallway.

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