Exquisite c. 1840s German Zoological Watercolor: Unusual Variety of Snake-like Creatures! old tin cooking dish I purchased the piece from

I purchased the piece from the estate of a dancer/choreographer in Boston's Beacon Hill neighborhood

I love the combination of drinking poem on one side paired with image of mother bird feeding her young on the opposite

5 9/16" x 3 9/16

not identified as Fornasetti by the dealer

It looks like the gold paint was painted (maybe not too long ago) over an older grayish green

Exquisite c. 1840s German Zoological Watercolor: Unusual Variety of Snake-like Creatures! old tin cooking dish I purchased the piece fromThis is not a hand colored engraving, it is an original, beautifully executed ink and watercolor drawingone of several I purchased from a seller in Germany, and which appear all done by the same person, c. 1840s I believe. Whether made in advance of, or after, an engraving for a zoological volume I am not certain (though I'd guess the former) whatever the case, quite spectacular, and with the fantastic execution amplifying a sense of wonder at