Lot 205
SAMUEL DIXON
THREE IRISH BASSO RELIEVO PICTURES, 18TH CENTURY
Auction: 29 September 2004 at 12:00 BST
Description
The Black-Headed Indian Icterus, 1750 series, no. VI, bearing label to frame "Number VI/The Black-headed Indian ICTERUS/ This bird is so-call'd from its likeness to another Bird....", 23cm x 17.5cm; The Black and White Chinese Cock Pheasant and Its Hen, 1750 series, number VII, original frame, traces of label, 23cm x 18cm; and The Quan or Guan, 1750 series, number XII, original frame, 23.5cm x 18cm; together with a similar watercolour by another hand; A Partridge, original frame
Dimensions
23cm x 17.5cm (4)
Footnote
(1) and (2) From George Edwards' Natural History of Uncommon Birds, vol. II (1748), nos. 77 and 66 respectively
(3) From George Edwards' Natural History of Uncommon Birds, vol. I (1743), no. 13 .
(4) conceivably derived from Albin cf. Eleazar Albin, A Natural History of Birds vol. I, no XXVII
Literature: A K Longfield "To Paint a Mockingbird", Country Life, 25th January 1979, pp. 196-7, fig. 2
Ada K Longfield, "More about Samuel Dixon and his Imitators", Quarterly Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society, vol. XXIII, no. 1 (Jan 1980) fig. 6
Ada K Longfield, "Irish Conceits of Birds and Blooms - the embossed pictures of Samuel Dixon", Country Life, 5th December 1968, pp. 1457-60, fig. 6