AF-WB-0050.T.jpg

Hand-colored print on laid paper depicting an Arctic whaling scene. In the bottom right corner, two men shoot a walrus on a patch of ice while another prepares to club it. In the bottom left corner, four men attack a polar bear, drawn with a boar-like snout, with lances. There are numerous whaleboats on the water. Three, in the central foreground, surround a spouting whale with their harpooneersmen preparing to strike. In the right-hand background, the harpooneersmen of three other boats attack another whale. There are three ships visible; the closest flies a red flag with the Union Jack in the canton. A fourth ship is discernable in the far left background and three or four more in the central background, drawn faintly. Between the two largest ships is a float of ice with a polar bear upon it. Icebergs and cloudbanks line the horizon line. The rays of the sun come out from behind a cloud.
A coat of arms and the following text are printed in the bottom margin: "To the Honorable Sr. John Eyles Barrt. [Baronet] Sub-Governor of the South Sea Company this plate of the whale or Greenland Fishery is most humbly inscribed"
This is followed by thr names "E. Kirkall S. [scriv.?]" and "Baston F. [fecit?]"


whales
1700-01-02
PERMANENT COLLECTION
Hart Nautical
Kirkall, E.
ink; laid paper; color wash
10 1/4 in x 15 1/4 in
Britain

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