Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10531
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‘The Great Ant-Eater’
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): 216mm
width (print): 280mm
width (print): 280mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Zoological study of the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactylahaga) native to South America. The animal is shown in a forest environment.
Plate 24 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 relates that: “The Ant-Eaters feed solely on insects, and particularly on ants and millipedes; and the manner in which they procure the insects is extremely curious...the specimen from which this figure was taken is perhaps the largest ever brought into Europe.”
The plate is inscribed: “C.R.Ryley delt. W.Skelton sculpt. MYRAMECOPHAGA JUBATA. THE GREAT ANT-EATER. Pubd. Jany.1 1791, by J.Parkinson. Leverian Museum, London.”
Plate 24 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 relates that: “The Ant-Eaters feed solely on insects, and particularly on ants and millipedes; and the manner in which they procure the insects is extremely curious...the specimen from which this figure was taken is perhaps the largest ever brought into Europe.”
The plate is inscribed: “C.R.Ryley delt. W.Skelton sculpt. MYRAMECOPHAGA JUBATA. THE GREAT ANT-EATER. Pubd. Jany.1 1791, by J.Parkinson. Leverian Museum, London.”
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