Scarlet Ibis and Other Ibises, Antique Bertuch Print, Vienna, circa 1812

This antique ibis print shows the scarlet ibis and other ibises, including the black faced ibis, on an original hand colored plate from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch headed Voegel LXXXI. In the seventh volume of the Weimar original the corresponding plate is listed as Ibis Arten, the species of ibis.

According to the index of the Weimar original the plate shows the scarlet ibis, the ibis with a black face, the Cayenne ibis and the sickle billed ibis. The brilliant scarlet ibis at upper left is the eye catcher, painted in strong red with a pale curved bill, while a second, duller red bird stands beside it. Below, the black faced ibis with its yellow neck and a dark green bird with a pale bill complete the group, each standing on a patch of ground so that the long legs and down curved bills are clearly displayed.

The plate comes from the Vienna edition of Bertuch's Bilderbuch, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend. Its source is the celebrated Bilderbuch fuer Kinder, the picture book for children conceived and edited by Friedrich Justin Bertuch in Weimar, whose plates were engraved afresh by Viennese engravers for this edition. Most plates carry their subject class and number in German, Latin and French across the top, so that the work could teach languages as well as natural history. Here the heading belongs to the series of birds, which Bertuch treated as one of the richest subject classes of the whole work. The small engraved mark XIII.B.30 places the sheet in volume 13 of the Vienna edition, which corresponds to the seventh volume of the Weimar original, dated 1810, so this Vienna plate cannot be earlier than that.

It is a copperplate engraving, colored by hand with watercolor in the manner of the Weimar original. Bertuch drew his images from the best natural history books of his time, and the result is a lively, accessible record of how the natural world was understood around 1800. Single plates from the Bilderbuch are popular with collectors of antique natural history prints, and a group of related plates makes a handsome display in a study, library or hallway.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning and small nicks at the right edge, well clear of the image, which is clean and bright.

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