141. Unidentified Bird. Watercolour on paper watermarked ?

TAL & Dai-ichi Life Derby collection of natural history watercolours, 1790s / compiled by Aylmer Bourke Lambert ; acquired by the 13th Earl of Derby

Folio (503 x 392 mm.), 19th century half tan morocco gilt by Hodgson, Liverpool, with marbled papered boards, the spine in compartments with red morocco lettering pieces titled ‘ZOOLOGY OF N. HOLLAND ETC:’, the 13th Earl of Derby’s bookplate on front pastedown.

An album containing 32 watercolours of fish and 112 watercolours of birds. 
The fish all inscribed in an 18th century hand:
“This drawing the size of Nature ... March”
“The same size as the Fish the drawing was taken from”
“This drawing is half the size of Nature  .... the white on the side is of a bright burnished silver )

The birds all inscribed in an 18th century hand:
“The Natural Size”
“1/4th The size of Nature”
“-The Female- / A Scale of two feet / The Extreme Length from the tip of one Wing to the tip of the other 5 feet 1 In.ch”

Watercolour heightened with gum arabic and white on paper, several with painted margins along the lower edges of the compositions, on paper with watermarks including (for the fishes) “J Whatman”, Britannia, “I Taylor”, Horn (Bugle) with CR ; (for the birds) “J Whatman”, Britannia, “1 Taylor”, Horn (Bugle) with CR, “R Williams”, and indistinct watermark “T French” the sheets mounted on blue laid paper album leaves, 50 x 37 cm. and smaller.

The title of this album in the Lambert sale (‘Zoology of New Holland and Van Diemen’s Land …‘), abbreviated on Lord Derby’s spine (‘Zoology of N. Holland etc.’) suggests some of the drawings must follow the settlement of Van Diemen’s Land in 1803.

The watermarks are mostly early, c.l770-1790, and include the Whatman, Britannia, Taylor and Horn (bugle), watermarks which feature on the Watling Collection papers used both by Watling and the Port Jackson Painter. 

The fishes include some variants of the unsigned works, given to the Port Jackson Painter, in the Watling Collection:

Watling drawing no.:
372 “Wel-gnoo-roo”
375 “Karra gnorra”
378 “Goe in mag gee”
379 “Mannadaang”

and appear to be by the same hand. 

They are all further in the same embellishing hand which titles, amongst others, Watling Collection nos 378 and 379, and Port Jackson Drawings (Banks Ms34) nos 64 and 66. 

The birds include variants of subjects and species featured in the Banks Ms34, Watling and Lambert Collections: for example the drawing here of the Caspian Tern (Hydroprogne caspia) is a variant of the watercolour in the Watling Collection (Watling no. 340); and some new images, of which the female black swan is the most remarkable, by or after the Port Jackson Painter, the image copied in the Lambert Drawings (vol. 1 Pl.80), and the companion to the male black swan in the Watling Collection. 

For a discussion of the male black swan by the Port Jackson Painter in the Watling Collection, its possible sources, and of the subsequent engravings, and of the same subject sold at Christie’s Australia, Melbourne, 6-7 December 1994, subsequently given to the ‘Sydney Bird Painter’ and now in the Vizard Foundation, see Jane Lennon, Art and Science: Early Australian Natural History Drawings and Engravings, in Australiana, August 1995, pp.72-77 (where the illustrations of the two drawings are transposed).

The watercolours are listed in numerical order as they appear in the album. Titles of the majority of the subjects are as follows: current common name where identified; according to Latham’s penciled English or Latin identifications on the watercolours; from the titles given to the matching Watling Collection subjects in the Natural History Museum, London (First Fleet Artwork Collection). The first number in brackets refers to the old Watling drawing number, the second number in brackets refer to the post-1984 Watling mount number.
Items listed “watercolour on paper watermarked ?” indicates that the watermark is not visible.

1 Unidentified fish				
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

2 Unidentified fish				
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’
					
3 Unidentified fish			
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

4 Unidentified fish			
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

5 Unidentified fish				
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘T French’

6 Unidentified fish		
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

7 Unidentified fish			
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

8 Unidentified fish
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

9 Unidentified fish	
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

10 Unidentified fish			
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

11 Unidentified fish	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

12 Unidentified fish	
watercolour on paper watermarked  ?

13 Unidentified fish
watercolour on paper watermarked  ‘Britannia’?

14 Unidentified fish	
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

15 Unidentified fish
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

16 Unidentified fish	
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

17 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’			

18 Unidentified fish	
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

19 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

20 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

21 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

22 Unidentified fish 
Wrasse? (Watling 375/310)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

23 Unidentified fish
Old Wife (Watling 378/313)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

24 Unidentified fish
Sweep Scorpis  (Watling 379/314)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

25 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

26 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

27 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

28 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

29 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

30 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

31 Unidentified fish 
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

32 Barracouta				
watercolour  on folded sheet extending to 54 cm. wide 

33 Tawny Frogmouth 
Gracile Goatsucker (Watling 297/222)	
watercolour on paper

34 White-breasted Sea-Eagle						
Allied to the Axillary Falcon (Watling 102/8)	
watercolour on paper

35 Black-shouldered Kite	 
Axillary Falcon (pencil inscription)
Axillary Falcon (Watling 99/5)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’
	
36 Red Goshawk                                                                                                       
 Radiated Falcon (Watling 103/10)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

37
 1. Unidentified bird 
Agile Honey-eater (pencil inscription)
Black Headed Creeper (Watling 185/106)                                                                             
 2. Unidentified bird 
Lanius flavigaster (pencil inscription)
Yellow-bellied Shrike (Watling 106/30)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

38 Unidentified bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

39 Red-backed Sea-eagle                                                                                   
Var[iety] of Pondicherry E[agle] (pencil inscription)
Pondicherry Eagle (Watling 97/3)
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’?

40 Rainbow Lorikeet                                                                                                            
Ps. Haematodus (pencil inscription)
Red-breasted or Blue-bellied Parrot (Watling 125/36)
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

41 Musk Lorikeet
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

42 King Parrot (male)	
Scarlet & Green (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

43 King Parrot (female) 	
Scarlet & Green (pencil inscription)
Scarlet and Green Parrot (Watling 136/51)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

44 King Parrot  
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

45 Crimson Rosella	
Pennantian P[arrot] (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

46 Crimson Rosella	
 Pennantian P[arrot] (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

47 Eastern Rosella 
 Non-pareil P[arrot] (pencil inscription)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

48 Yellow-tailed Black Cockatoo	
 Banksian Parrot (pencil inscription)
 Banksian Cockatoo (Watling 140/56)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

49 Unidentified bird	
Scythrops (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

50 Magpie-lark	
Corvus cyanoleucos (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

51 Dollarbird	
Coracius orientalis (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

52 Pallid Cuckoo (probably)	
Cuculus – new? (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘R Williams’

53
1. Sacred Kingfisher                                                                  
Alcedo sacre (pencil inscription)
2. Azure Kingfisher	
2-3 toed N. Holland K[ingfisher] (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

54 Blue-faced Honeyeater	
Merops cyanoris (pencil inscription)
 Blue-cheeked Thrush (Watling 225/146)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

55 Red Wattlebird	
Merops carunculatus (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

56 Unidentified bird                                                                                                         		
Turdus leucotis (pencil inscription)
 watercolour on paper watermarked ?

57 Red-browed Finch				
Turdus new (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Horn with GR’

58 Unidentified bird	
Turdus …? (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

59 Unidentified bird	
Turdus …? (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

60 Unidentified bird	
Turdus cyanocephalus (pencil inscription)
 Blue-headed Thrush (Watling 227/148)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

61 Blue-faced Honeyeater
Turdus cyanoris (pencil inscription)
Blue-cheeked Thrush (Watling 225/146)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

62 Red-browed Finch				
 Loxia astrild (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

63 Unidentified bird				
Musc[icapa] flavigastra (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

64 Scarlet Robin				
Musca crythrogastra (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

65 Yellow-tufted Honeyeater				
Muscic[apa] novae Hollandiae (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’?

66
1. Scarlet Honeyeater                                                                   
Certhia/H[oney]-eater]/orientale (pencil inscription)
2. Unidentified bird	
Muscicapa malachura (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

 67 Unidentified bird
 Probably a new Lanius? or Muscicapa (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked Britannia

68  Red-winged Fairy-wren - male and female				
Male and female Superb Warblers (ink inscription)      
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

69 Unidentified bird with a lizard			
Sylvia rufirostris
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

70
1. Unidentified bird                                                                                             
Bonnet Warbler (Watling 283/208)
2. Unidentified bird                          	
Crimson throated Manakin (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

71 Unidentified bird
Pipra new? Allied to Cinereous M.? (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

72
1. Spotted Pardalote                                                                                          
Pipra punctata (pencil inscription)		
2. Unidentified bird
Muscic[apa] rufifrom (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

73 Scarlet Robins (male and female)	
Musc[icapa]. Crythrogastra. (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

74 Unidentified birds (male and female)	
Hirundo caudacuta (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

75 Unidentified bird	
N. Holland Goatsucker (pencil inscription) 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

76 Unidentified bird
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

77 Unidentified bird
watercolour on paper 

78 Eastern Curlew
Curlew (pencil inscription)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

79 Black-fronted Dotterel	
Char[adrius] Hiaticula (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

80 Masked Lapwing or Spur-winged Plover						
watercolour on paper

81 Scarlet Robin
watercolour on paper watermarked Horn with GR[?]		

82 Golden Plover
Golden Plover (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked Britannia		

83 Golden Plover	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’
female (pencil inscription]

84 Purple Swamphen	
Purple Gallinule (pencil inscription]
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

85 Sooty Tern
Sterna novae Hollandae (pencil inscription)
New-Holland Tern (Watling 342/274)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

86 Black Swan	
The Female anas atrata (ink and pencil inscriptions)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

87 Duck				
watercolour on paper

88 Duck				
watercolour on paper

89 Duck				
watercolour on paper

90 Caspian Tern
Caspian Tern (Watling 340/272)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

91 Unidentified bird				
Pel. borssanus[?] (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper

92 Australian Pelican			
watercolour on paper

93 Unidentified bird			
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

94 Unidentified birds	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

95 Noisy Friarbird				
Knob fronted Honey Eater (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

96 Unidentified Bird			
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

97 Unidentified Bird				
watercolour on paper

98 Unidentified Bird				
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

99  Buff-banded Rail                                                                                               
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’
				
100 New Holland Honeyeater				
Certh[ia] N[ovae] Holl[andiae] (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

101 Yellow-tufted Honeyeater			                                            
 watercolour on paper watermarked ?

102 Unidentified Bird				
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

103 Unidentified Bird						
Honey-eater – new? (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

104 Unidentified Bird									
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘R Williams’	
		
105 Red-browed Finch									
watercolour watermarked Horn with GR	
		
106 Unidentified Bird									
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

107 Unidentified Bird				
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

108 Unidentified Bird	                                                                                
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

109 Unidentified Bird			
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’

110 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

111 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

112 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

113 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

114 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

115 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

116 Bell-miner (probably)	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

117 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

118 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

119 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

120 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

121 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘T French’

122 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘R Williams’

123 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

124 Unidentified Bird
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

125 Unidentified Bird									
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

126 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

127 Unidentified Bird	                                                                                             
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’			

128 Unidentified Bird	                                                                                             
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

129 Unidentified Bird
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

130 Unidentified Bird									
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘R Williams’			

131 Unidentified Bird	                                                                                              
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

132 Unidentified Bird									
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘R Williams’

133 Unidentified Bird	                                                                                             
 watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

134 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

135 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

136 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

137 Unidentified Bird	
probably the Harmonic Th[rush] (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

138 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘T French’

139 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘T French’

140
1.  Unidentified Bird
2.  Red-browed Finch                                                      				
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘J Whatman’
					
141 Unidentified Bird	
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

142 Unidentified Bird 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘I Taylor’

143 Unidentified Bird 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’			

144 Unidentified Bird 
watercolour on paper watermarked ‘Britannia’

145 Unidentified Bird 
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

146 Unidentified Bird 
Honey eater (pencil inscription)
watercolour on paper watermarked ?

141. Unidentified Bird. Watercolour on paper watermarked ?

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