Catalog Archive
Auction 162, Lot 742

"[Untitled - Snakes] Tab LXXIII", Seba, Albertus

Subject: Prints Animal

Period: 1734 (circa)

Publication: Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri

Color: Hand Color

Size:
21.1 x 16.3 inches
53.6 x 41.4 cm
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This folio sheet depicts four snakes and two branches with berries. This sheet appeared in Albertus Seba's Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri, a thesaurus of natural history published in four volumes, two of which were published after his death. The volumes contained 449 plates depicting birds, mammals, insects, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, spiders, fish, molluscs, crustacea, minerals, fossils, and shells. Seba, a Dutchman, opened a pharmacy in Amsterdam around 1700 and asked sailors to bring him exotic flora and fauna for him to use in his pharmacy. Thus began a collection that Seba eventually sold to Peter the Great, and which became part of the foundation of the Kunstkammer museum.

References:

Condition: B+

A dark impression on watermarked paper with light offsetting and minor toning along the centerfold. Remnants of hinge tape on verso.

Estimate: $550 - $650

Unsold

Closed on 4/26/2017

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