Engraving by Bernard Picart: The Mercury of the Mexicans Called Quetzalcoutl, Framed
About this piece
Tiny crowded scene sits adrift in a very large white mat.
This engraving is from London, England, United Kingdom, and dates to the 18th century. It is ink on paper. Thomas Allom, an architect and founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects, illustrated books on China in the 1840s without ever making the trip there himself. Soft hatching shapes a small, slightly worn print of figures grouped around a table at a raised platform. It is mounted with generous cream space and a pale gilt frame carrying a carved, rope-like molding. The caption beneath is too small to read. It is 16 inches wide and 14 high.
Plenty of matting, plenty of frame, and a little print.






