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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Abyssinian Roller
General material designation
Parallel title
Other title information
Coracias abyssinicus
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Title based on 2019 species identification.
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-440
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
(approximately 1720-approximately 1790)
Biographical history
Peter Paillou was born in London into a Huguenot family and was recognised in his own time as an eminent ‘bird painter’. In 1744 he began to paint for Taylor White and worked for him for almost thirty years, painting chiefly birds and mammals. He painted as well for Robert More, Joseph Banks, and for the Welsh naturalist Thomas Pennant. Many of his paintings of birds were used as the basis for book illustrations, often engraved by his colleague and fellow Huguenot, Peter Mazell. Paillou was elected to the Society of Artists and in 1763 he exhibited ‘A Piece of Birds, in Watercolours; the Hen of the Wood and Cock of the Red Game’. In 1778, to considerable approval, he also showed a picture of ‘A Horned Owl from Peru’, completely made from feathers.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Drawing of an Abyssinian Roller from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Sub-Saharan Africa North of the Equator.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Notes area
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Finding aids
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Accruals
General note
Manuscript note on back of drawing: Corvus paradisi maximus
General note
Scientific name: Coracias abyssinicus
Accompanying material
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Picae Corvus
Ornatus
Corvus virides dorso ferrugineo; alis basi &
apice cyaneis, rectricibus duobus lateralibus
longissimis
Rostrum plumbeum. Caput & Collum Pectus & Abdomen
viridi: regio oculorum gulaque pallide
lutescentia. Dorsum ferrugineum ut et
remiges interiores comp corpori proximae
Pectus & abdomen viridi Alae medio virides,
humeris caeruleis: remigibusque pri-
mariis caeruleis. Urrhopygium [uropigium] cae-
ruleum. Cauda caerulescenti viridis,
longitudine corporis: rectricibus duobus
lateralibus (unica utrinque) duplo
longioribus extra medium nigricantibus.
habitat in Zeylon ut opinor.
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Aves Picae Corvus
Ornatus
Corvus virides, with a reddish-brown back,
wings that are blue at the base and tip, two very long flight feathers
on the sides of the tail,
and a lead-coloured beak. The head, neck, breast, and abdomen
are green: with pale yellow patches around the eyes and a
pale yellow throat. The back is reddish-brown as are the
inner flight feathers on the wings near the body;
the wings are green in the middle,
with blue shoulders and
primary feathers. The rump is blue.
The tail is bluish-green,
and is as long as the body: with two flight feathers on the sides
of the tail (one on either side) that are twice as long [as the
rest] and are black from the outside to the middle.
I believe it lives in Ceylon.
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Birds Volume 5, Painting 13