Trogons and Jays, Brazilian Bird Print, Descourtilz, 1944

Trogons and jays print after Descourtilz, dated 1944 and issued as Estampa 17 of the Ornitologia Brasileira, a color offset print from Jean-Théodore Descourtilz's paintings of Brazilian birds.

Three birds are gathered on a single fruiting branch hung with small dark berries and ovate leaves. At the upper left, a bird with an olive-green head and back, a white throat band and a pale salmon-pink breast perches with its barred gray-and-white tail spread behind it. To the right and slightly below, a second bird shows a blue-black crested head, an olive-green back, gray wing coverts and a yellow lower belly, its tail long and tapering. At the bottom of the composition, a third bird with a blue-black head and back and a bright red-orange breast perches on its own section of branch, its dark tail tipped in white. The branch itself, with its small fruit and simple foliage, links all three birds into a single continuous design running the height of the plate.

The plate comes from the Ornitologia Brasileira ou História Natural das Aves do Brasil, notáveis por sua plumagem, canto e hábitos, issued in 1944 by Livraria Kosmos Editora of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. First published in French in the 1850s, the work appeared here in its first Portuguese edition, translated by Eurico Santos and limited to 1,315 copies, 1,000 plus 315 numbered. Each of its 48 color offset plates is captioned "Estampa" with its number and mounted on a toned card with a printed green ornamental border.

Descourtilz, a French painter and naturalist who lived from circa 1796 to 1855, traveled to Brazil in the late 1820s and devoted himself to painting its birds. His first work on the birds of Brazil appeared in 1834.

This trogons and jays print after Descourtilz is decorative and strong in color, and works well framed on its own in a study or hallway or hung with other Brazilian bird prints from the same volume.

This plate is in good condition for its age. The mount shows ordinary age toning, with a few small spots and light wear to the edges; the image itself is clean. Please review the images for further condition details.