Happy Chinese New Year! In honor of the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, here is a colored engrav
Happy Chinese New Year! In honor of the beginning of the Year of the Tiger, here is a colored engraving of the majestic feline from a Noel Collection favorite, William Jardine’s The Naturalist’s Library (1843).Jardine describes the tiger as thus:He possesses no trace of the shaggy mane which adds so much to the bold and majestic-looking front of the lion, and his countenance scowling under the different passions, conveys a greater idea of treachery and wanton cruelty, than really belongs to the animal. In shape he is more lengthened and slender than the lion, the head rounder, and on the whole form more cat-like, and all his motions are performed with the greatest grace and apparent ease. In an animal high in health, the hair is thick, fine, and shining, the colour bright tawny yellow, shaded into pure white on the under parts, and being beautifully marked with dark bands and brindlings, exhibits a distribution of colour altogether beautiful and pleasing.Image from: Jardine, William. The Naturalist’s Library. Edinburgh: W.H. Lizars et al., 1843. Vol. 3Call number: QL3 .J37 1843 Vol. 3Catalog record: https://bit.ly/2Q98p8i -- source link
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