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Tayra
Eira barbara
Item
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
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.
Drawing of a Tayra from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Central America and South America.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Manuscript note on back of drawing: the Ferret from the East Indies and if the Barbara Lin Sys Nat 46
Scientific name: Eira barbara
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mustelia [Mustela] Ferae Mustela
4 Babara [Barbara]
Mustela Pedibus fissis, atra,
collo subtus macula alba triloba.
Lyn. [sic] Syst. nat. 67.
Galera. Brown. jam. 485. t. 49 f.1.
Habitat in Brasilia.
Corpus statura martis, nigrum
pilis rigioribus [rigidioribus], Auriculae rotundae
villosae. Area cinerescens ante oculos
macula sub medio collo, non sub gula
albida mammae 4. pone unbilicum.
The Black Indian Ferret
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mustelia [Mustela] Ferae Mustela
4 Babara [Barbara]
Mustela with cleft black feet,
and a three-lobed white patch under the neck.
Lyn. [sic] Syst. nat. 67.
Galera. Brown. jam. 485. t. 49 f.1.
It lives in Brasil.
It has the stature of a marten; it is black,
with fairly rigid hair, and round
shaggy ears; with an ash-coloured patch above the eyes
and a white patch under the middle of the neck, but not under
the throat. There are 4 teats, below the navel.
The Black Indian Ferret