TWO EARLY 18TH CENTURY FRENCH COLOURED ENGRAVINGS OF NATIVE AMERICAN INDIANS DATED 1722

taken from a book, the first depicting 'Maniere d'ensevelir les rois, et pretres de la Floride' (The way of burying the kings and priests of Florida), showing various huts on fire and tribes people seated around a mound, the second showing two scenes, the upper depicting 'Floridiennes qui ayant perdu leurs maris a la guerre, viennent implorer l'asistance du roy. Hermafrodites, destinez a servir les malades, et a enterrer les morts' (Floridians who having lost their husbands in the war, come to implore the assistance of the king. Hermaphrodites, who must serve the sick, and to bury the dead.), the lower scenes depicting 'Veuves de la Floride, qui sement leurs cheveux sur les tombeaux de leurs maris' (widows of Florida, who spread their hair on the tombs of their husbands), all inscribed 'B. Picart, sculpt. dir. 1722', in a pair of glazed frames, the frames signed to the reverse 'Viktor Wynd 2009',

the engravings 35cm high x 23cm wide (2)

Provenance: Viktor Wynd’s Museum, London.

The Viktor Wynd Museum of Curiosities, Fine Art & UnNatural History is a contemporary reinterpretation of a Pre-Enlightenment Wunderkabinett or Cabinet of Curiosities. It is the creation of artist and writer Viktor Wynd, who has just opened a Falmouth branch of his museum inside the National Maritime Museum. His most recent book 'The UnNatural History Museum' was published by Prestel in 2020.