Antique French Hand-Colored Parakeet Print after François-Nicolas Martinet - 14¼" x 11"

This colorful French ornithological print is a later hand-colored interpretation of François-Nicolas Martinet’s plate 888, Perruche de Mahé, originally published in the celebrated Planches enluminées d’histoire naturelle in the late 18th century. The parakeet is shown perched on a slender branch, with a rose-pink head, soft green body, flashes of red at the wing, and unusually long blue tail feathers. The generous pale ground keeps the composition light and allows the delicate colors to stand out particularly well.

Martinet’s original plates were produced for Buffon’s great natural-history publications and became widely admired for their combination of scientific observation and decorative appeal. This later version appears to reinterpret the original coloring rather than reproduce it exactly, giving the bird a softer, more decorative character. It is presented under glass with layered cream and pale green mounts, finely ruled with silvered and gilt lines that subtly echo the blues, greens, and warmer tones of the plumage.

The slender reddish-brown frame has fine gilt detailing and retains the E. Pouillé-Lecoultre, Lyon framing label to the reverse. The print shows light age-related toning and a few scattered marks, while the frame has small scratches, rubbing, and minor losses to the finish consistent with age.

With its graceful composition and softly faded color, it would bring a fresh natural-history note to a bedroom, library, or layered country-house interior.