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Hand-Colored Butterfly Engraving on Paper by J. Juillet after J. J. Ernst

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles Start Price:20.00 USD Estimated At:50.00 - 200.00 USD
Hand-Colored Butterfly Engraving on Paper by J. Juillet after J. J. Ernst
A beautifully preserved original hand-colored engraving depicting the butterfly Le Grand Mars Orange. This exquisite natural history plate by Jean Jacques Ernst was engraved by Jean Jacques Juillet, both noted contributors to the great French tradition of Enlightenment-era natural history illustration. The butterfly is rendered with remarkable attention to detail, the delicate veining and vibrant tinting heightened with period hand-coloring. Jean Jacques Ernst was a Swiss-born painter and naturalist active in France, remembered for his collaborations on botanical and zoological plates during the golden age of natural history exploration. His works embody the period's fascination with cataloguing the natural world in artful scientific form. J. J. Juillet was a skilled French engraver who specialized in translating these delicate paintings into precise copperplate engravings for publication and collector editions. Together, their work contributed to the flourishing illustrated compendiums of butterflies, plants, and fauna so highly prized among aristocratic collectors and natural philosophers of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The inscription beneath reads Le Grand Mars Orange, in ink, with credits below: J. J. Ernst pinxit and J. J. Juillet sculp.

Artist: Jean Jacques Ernst (Swiss/French 1742-1820)
Issued: 19th century
Dimensions: 14.25"L x 10.50"H
Country of Origin: Switzerland/France

Condition: Age related wear. Minor buckling on lower edge.