An original antique, hand-colored Parrot engraving, produced in 1842 in quarto size, after the original folio stone lithograph produced in Paris in 1834.

This is a faithfully reduced-sized bookplate version of the famous, & extremely scarce, folio from the stupendous work by Jean Théodore Descourtilz (1796-1855).

The original Folio Volumes: Ornithologie Bresilienne ou Histoire des Oiseaux du Bresil describes and figures 164 species of Brazilian birds, 15 species and 1 genus new to science. Four parts of the work appeared, each with 12 plates by Descourtilz, before his sudden death in 1855. The plates were prepared in London, and apparently printed by Waterlow and Sons and also Joseph Masters and Co. Any scarce examples which reach the market are priced in the many thousands of dollars.

The Artist: Jean-Théodore Descourtilz, a French naturalist and bird illustrator, died Jan. 13, 1855, at the age of about 57. Descourtilz travelled to Brazil in 1826 and began drawing the native birds. By 1834, he had collected enough paintings to publish Oiseaux brillans du Brésil (Brilliant Birds of Brazil, 1834), with 60 hand-colored lithographs. The book consists of plates only, with no text, and was published in Paris. It is extremely rare, with only four or five copies known world-wide.

He published another bird volume nine years later, Oiseaux remarquables du Brésil (Remarkable Birds of Brazil, 1843), this one with 30 plates and published in Rio de Janeiro. It is even scarcer than the first, with two known copies in the world. Fortunately for his reputation, Descourtilz’s third and final book, Ornithologie Bresilienne ou Histoire des Oiseaux du Bresil (Brazilian Ornithology or a History of the Birds of Brazil, 1852-56), was more widely disseminated, with a dozen copies known. The images are iconic, enormously attractive & rendered with a wonderfully bold, sculpted style, brilliantly colored.

This plate:  Thankfully these amazing images were re-cut as quarto-sized book-plate engravings, as part of a collection called Le Jardin Des Plantes, a book of 145 engravings from The Garden of Plants, Paris. Dated 1842, which included the set from Oiseaux brillans du Brésil. I'm listing a grouping of them that I collected from France.

The technique:  These plates are certainly hand-colored, some heightened with gum arabic. The line engravings were faithfully reproduced from the original chromolithography, which was a technique that had just come into use at the time of the original folios.

I think these original copperplate engravings were transferred to lithographic stones using a secretive technique whereby the precision of copperplate engravings were deposited in lithographic wax on the litho-stone, thereby retaining the precision of the fine lines, title & shading, but with the more efficient production that stone-lithography offered over intaglio printing from copper. Once the line-engraving was printed on the individual sheet in black, the image was then hand-colored in watercolor to match the original folios.  The black lines could also conceivably have been produced using wood-engravings.

Condition: Appears to be in good to very good condition for a centuries-old print. The hand-coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was painted. Typical age-toning & character for a print this old.

These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, Please peruse the detailed photos.

About this gorgeous bird:

• There seems to be some confusion as to whether this is the Caica Parrot (Pyrilia caica) or the Orange-Cheeked Parrot (pirillia barrabandii)
• is a species of bird in subfamily Arinae of the family Psittacidae, the African and New World parrots. It is found in Brazil, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela.
• The Orange-cheeked Parrot (Pyrilia barrabandi) also known as Barraband's parrot, is a species of parrot in the family Psittacidae. It was formerly placed in the genus Pionopsitta, which is now monotypic. It is found in the Amazonian Andes, in humid lowland forests in the northwestern, southwestern, and south-central Amazon Basin in South America. They are threatened with loss of habitat due to the increasing deforestation of the Amazon.

Size: 10" x 6-1/2" inches approximately.

Shipping: Multiple prints combine into one USPS Flat-Rate envelope. If you'd like to combine & need more time to choose, please send a message & we'll do our best to oblige. If you're assessed multiple shipping for one combined package, we'll endeavor to refund any overage asap.

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