Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10529
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‘The Variegated Baboon’ [Mandrill]
Date
1791
Creator
William Skelton (1763 - 1848, British) , Engraver
After
Charles Reuben Ryley (1747 - 1798, British) , Painter
Object type
Library reference
R63366
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 280mm
width (print): 216mm
width (print): 216mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological study of the mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) sitting in a wooded landscape and holding a pear, with other mandrills shown climbing trees.
Plate 9 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: “This very curious creature may be considered as one of the rarest of its tribe...It is a native of the interior parts of Africa. Tho’ in a state of confinement it frequently sits in the manner represented in the figure, yet its natural and usual posture is like that of other quadrupeds...”
The plate is inscribed: “Ryley delt. Skelton sculpt. SIMIA MORMON. THE VARIEGATED BABOON. Pubd. as the Act directs Jany.1 1791 by I.Parkinson. Leverian Museum”
Plate 9 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: “This very curious creature may be considered as one of the rarest of its tribe...It is a native of the interior parts of Africa. Tho’ in a state of confinement it frequently sits in the manner represented in the figure, yet its natural and usual posture is like that of other quadrupeds...”
The plate is inscribed: “Ryley delt. Skelton sculpt. SIMIA MORMON. THE VARIEGATED BABOON. 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