Enlightenment Period Engraving of an Owl

An 18th-century natural history engraving depicting an owl in the Barn Owl family (Tytonidae) with rounded head and large eyes, standing upright on strong talons. The plumage is carefully delineated with dotted and cross-hatched shading, showing a speckled breast and patterned wings. To the right appears an anatomical study of the owl’s skull and beak. This plate, labeled TABVLA LXIV, comes from a Nuremberg-issued ornithological series intended to illustrate exotic and European birds for Enlightenment-era scientific study.

Dimensions: 24.5 x 30.5 (full sheet)

Texts below image:
TABVLA LXIV.
I. I. R. pinx. R.
Andr. Hoffer. exc. Norimb.

Credits:

• I. I. R. pinx. R
  

• Andr(eas) Hoffer exc. Norimb(ergæ)

• These plates, with their Tabula numbering and scientific emphasis, belong to the same Nuremberg circle of publishers (including Eisenmann) who re-engraved and distributed bird studies originally after George Edwards, often through Johann Michael Seligmann’s monumental ornithological series.