Italian Hand Colored Engraving by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein: Framed; Based on the Original Collection of Sir William Hamilton's Ancient Vases

Two men, one bull, and nobody consulting the bull.

This hand-colored engraving by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein comes from Naples, Italy, about 1791, in ink on paper, framed. It records a scene from Sir William Hamilton's ancient vases, which the British envoy had published so that artists and scholars could learn from them. Unlike many plates in the series, this one shows black figures on an orange ground. One man grapples the lowered head of the bull while another strides up behind, among dotted vines. The carved black frame measures 20.75 inches wide and 22.75 high.

The bull, to its credit, has not yet agreed to anything.