19th Century African Wildlife Lithographs

Series of four 19th Century fine hand-coloured lithographed plates of African wildlife.

These lithographs depict an African Rhinoceros, The Hippopotamus, The Water Buck and The Hartebeest from Portraits of the game and wild animals of Southern Africa by William Cornwallis Harris (1807-48) military engineer and artist.

While posted in South Africa in the mid-1830s, Harris went on an expedition to the Savannah grasslands and produced several watercolour paintings of the animals he observed.

These are amongst the earliest accurate European depictions of African wildlife and a significant contribution to the natural history of the region presented in faux ivory painted frames with inset mirrored panels.