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Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
Beaver
General material designation
Parallel title
Beaver
Other title information
Castor canadensis
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
- Source of title proper: Caption title.
- Parallel titles and other title information: Title from Mousley: Fiber moschatus
Level of description
Item
Repository
Reference code
CA RBD MSG BW002-232
Edition area
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Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
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Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
Physical description area
Physical description
1 watercolour painting ; 56 x 39 cm + 1 leaf
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
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Archival description area
Name of creator
(approximately 1720-approximately 1790)
Biographical history
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.
Custodial history
Scope and content
Drawing of a Beaver from a 18th century specimen [modern geographical distribution: Canada and the United States.] Attributed to Peter Paillou.
Notes area
Physical condition
Small tear in top right corner.
Immediate source of acquisition
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Language of material
Script of material
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Associated materials
Accruals
General note
Manuscript note on front of drawing: Beaver (Fiber moschatus)
General note
General note
Scientific name: Castor canadensis
Accompanying material
With manuscript text on accompanying leaf.
Accompanying material
Transcription of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Glires Castor
Castor.
Dentes Primores superiores truncati.
Angulo transverso excavati; inferiores
apice transversi.
Fiber
- Fiber. castor cauda ovata plana. Linn. S. N. 58
castor Gesn. pisc. 185.
Fiber Bellonii.
Habitat in Europae Asiae, Americae borialibus
ad ripas fluviorum, victitans corticibus
imprimis populi tremulae. Domos mire
extruit. L.S.N: 58
The Beavor.
Vol. 6 N 12
Mammalia Glires Castor
3 Zibethicus
Castor; cauda longa, compresso-lan-
ceolata pedibus fissis. L.N.S. [sic] ed. 12. 79
Accompanying material
Translation of manuscript note on accompanying leaf: Mammalia Glires Castor
Castor.
The upper incisors are shortened,
and hollowed out at an oblique angle; the lower incisors
are oblique at the tip.
Fiber
- Fiber. castor with a flat eggshaped tail. Linn. S. N. 58
castor Gesn. pisc. 185.
Fiber Bellonii.
It lives in northern Europe, Asia, and America,
by the banks of streams, and feeds primarily
on the bark of the Populus tremuloides [quaking aspen]. It builds
its home extraordinarily. L.S.N: 58
The Beavor.
Vol. 6 N 12
Mammalia Glires Castor
3 Zibethicus
Castor; with a long tail with a compressed-
lanceolate shape; and cleft feet. L.N.S. [sic] ed. 12. 79
Alternative identifier(s)
Volume number
Mammals Volume 6, Painting 12
Standard number area
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- British Museum (Natural History) (Collector)