Indian Scribe Writing on Palm Leaf Ollas, Antique Sonnerat Plate, 1806

Plate 28 of Sonnerat's Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine is an original antique engraving of an Indian scribe seated cross legged, incising characters with an iron stylus onto an olla, a prepared strip of palm leaf, with finished leaves beside him. Beneath the image the sheet is lettered INDIEN ECRIVANT SUR DES OLLES., with P. Sonnerat pinx. at the lower left and Poisson sculp. at the lower right, and the plate number 28 at the upper right.

Pierre Sonnerat published his Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine in Paris in 1782, and the plates were reissued in this separate folio volume by Dentu in 1806 under the title Collection de planches pour servir au Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine. Every image was drawn by Sonnerat himself during the voyage he made for the French crown between 1774 and 1781 and then cut on copper by the Paris engravers who worked for him. The image is a copper engraving, printed in black on laid paper with a clear plate mark, the lettering cut below the image in the same plate. No color was applied, which is how the volume was issued.

The plates of Indian life are the part of Sonnerat's work that collectors look for first. He recorded the trades, the tools, the ceremonies and the religion of the Tamil country at a moment when very few Europeans were doing so with any care, and he did it without the condescension that runs through most travel books of his century. The working plates in particular are a straightforward record of how things were made. Sonnerat is remembered in the names of the things he found. The mangrove genus Sonneratia carries his name, so does the gray junglefowl Gallus sonneratii, and the botanical author abbreviation Sonn. stands for him. He was the first to put the name aye-aye into print, and the name indri entered European use through him as well. The plates in this volume are the record of that work.

Light uneven toning, browner towards the edges. Marked handling soiling along all four edges. Scattered light foxing in the margin. Slight wear at the top left corner. Minor edge wear, shallow nicks along the top.

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