Dasypus trincinctus Linn [Three-banded Armadillo]

Method Copper engraving with hand colouring
Artist Jakob Hermann Tyroff
Published [Published by Wolfgang Walther, Erlangen, Germany, c.1775]
Dimensions Image and Plate 230 x 174 mm, Sheet 273 x 216 mm
Notes Plate from 'Die Saugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen', also known as 'Animal Illustrations after Nature', or 'Schreber's "Fantastic Animals"' by Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber.

Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber (1739-1810) was a German physician and naturalist. He studied botany with the famous Swedish taxonomist, Carl Linnaeus. From then on, his interest in medicine and botany ran parallel courses, with both an appointment as professor of medicine at University of Erlangen and an appointment as the director of the Erlanger Botanical Gardens & Natural History Museum. Schreber was knighted in 1791.

In 1774, he began what was to be his masterpiece, a work on the mammals of the world, using the taxonomic system of Linnaeus 'Die Saugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur mit Beschreibungen' 'Animal Illustrations after Nature', or 'Schreber's Fantastic Animals' published by Wolfgang Walther, Erlangen between 1775 and 1792. It was illustrated, containing 755 coloured prints of mammals of the world. For the most the artists, who included such luminaries of the day as George Edwards & De Seve, worked from descriptions of the animals by others who had seen them, rather than actual specimens. The resulting images were sometimes more than a little inaccurate, hence the title of Schreber's "Fantastic Beasts", this charming naiveté making these rare prints highly prized by collectors.

Jakob Hermann Tyroff (1742-c.1800) was a German artist and engraver active in Nuremberg, Germany.

Condition: Good impression. Time toning to edges of the sheet, mainly right edge.
Framing unmounted
Price £50.00
Stock ID 47705

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