Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10527
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‘The Rock Manakin’
Date
1791
Creator
William Skelton (1763 - 1848, British) , Engraver
After
Sarah Stone (1760 - 1844, British) , Painter
Object type
Library reference
R63366
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 280mm
width (print): 216mm
width (print): 216mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Ornithological study of the Guianan Cock-of-the-rock (Rupicola rupicola) native to South America, shown perched on a tree branch above a bay or lake. This specimen is a male bird.
Plate 4 from Museum Leverianum containing select specimens from the museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever...by George Shaw (published by James Parkinson, 1792).
The accompanying text states that “When in a state of perfection it furnishes perhaps the finest example of the true colour croceus, or golden-orange, of any bird yet discovered...it is principally found in the province of Guiana and Cayenne in South America. The female is strikingly different in point of colour; being a uniform brown...”
The plate is inscribed: “Mrs. Smith late Miss Stone delin. Skelton sculpt. PIPRA RUPICOLA. THE ROCK MANAKIN. Pubd. as the Act directs Jany.1 1791 by I.Parkinson. Leverian Museum”.
Plate 4 from Museum Leverianum containing select specimens from the museum of the late Sir Ashton Lever...by George Shaw (published by James Parkinson, 1792).
The accompanying text states that “When in a state of perfection it furnishes perhaps the finest example of the true colour croceus, or golden-orange, of any bird yet discovered...it is principally found in the province of Guiana and Cayenne in South America. The female is strikingly different in point of colour; being a uniform brown...”
The plate is inscribed: “Mrs. Smith late Miss Stone delin. Skelton sculpt. PIPRA RUPICOLA. THE ROCK MANAKIN. Pubd. as the Act directs Jany.1 1791 by I.Parkinson. Leverian Museum”.
Object history
The natural historian George Shaw (1751-1813) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1789. His book, from which this plate is taken, was an account of the collection built up by Sir Ashton Lever FRS (1729-1788). The museum was originally at Leicester House, London and was displayed publically after Lever’s death, moving to a rotunda building near Blackfriars Bridge.
Associated place