Matthew Barton Ltd European & Asia Works of Art - Day 2 - Thursday 25th May 2017
A VIENNA ORNITHOLOGICAL PLATE OF AN AUSTRALIAN OSTRICH (OR SOUTHERN CASSOWARY), 1813 painted by
Josef Geyer with the bird in its natural habitat, the rim with caramel-coloured and white bands between gilt borders and oval and vine motifs, shield mark in underglaze-blue, impressed date numbers and impressed 17, painter's no.137, painted title 24cm diameter The southern cassowary is found in the tropical rainforests of Indonesia, New Guinea and north-eastern Australia. It was first described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in his Systema Naturae as 'Struthio Casuarius' (as titled on this plate), from a specimen from Seram. Josef Geyer was employed by the Vienna factory as a 'Blumen und Dekorationsmaler' between 1802-1836 (see Waltraud Neuwirth, Wiener Porzellan 1718-1864, Vienna, 1971, p.37).
