Triggerfish and Filefish from Tropical Reefs, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1815

This hand colored copper engraving of triggerfishes and a filefish, the armored reef fishes with the locking spine that gives them their name, comes from the Vienna edition of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Bilderbuch. The four fishes are boldly patterned, one in dark brown with blue face stripes and red fins, another with a long lyre shaped tail.

The heading reads Fische, Pisces and Poissons, plate XLIII, and the mark at lower right reads XV.B.35. The third figure is spotted all over in blue on a netted skin, and the small fourth fish, pink with red spots and a single horn like spine, is a filefish. The species are identified here by appearance, the text leaf not being present.

The later volumes of the Vienna edition, published in Vienna under the title Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnügen der Jugend, continued the reprint of Friedrich Justin Bertuch's Weimar Bilderbuch fuer Kinder in volumes of fifty plates each, with German and French headings in place of the three languages of the earlier plates. The Weimar original, the great illustrated encyclopaedia for children issued by the Landes Industrie Comptoir from 1790 onwards, was followed subject for subject, and the plates were sold 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 XV, which places it circa 1813 to 1818.

A plate like this suits a kitchen, a dining room, a study or a coastal house, and it hangs well in a group with other Bertuch fish plates, where the color and the consistent format of the series make a lively and coherent wall.

The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few small spots and a crease with small nicks in the right margin; the image is clean.

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