This beautiful antique hand-colored engraving comes from the French publication "Tableau encyclopedique et methodique des trois regnes de la nature - Ornithologie.", published in 1790 by Charles-Joseph Panckoucke.
The encyclopedia the engraving is from was assembled by French naturalist Abbé Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre. The engravings were created by Bernard Direxit.
Direxit was able to create a more detailed and fine line engraving of the birds by using steel rather than the traditional copper plate.
The print is in excellent condition with only slight toning. The piece has imperfect edges due to the handmade nature of the paper.
