STONE, Sarah (1761-1844). Famous Creeper ... Certhia famosa [Malachite Sunbird, Nectarinia famosa]. [London: circa 1781-1789]. Original watercolour and bodycolour drawing, unsigned, on sized laid paper (10 x 14 1/16 inches), with early manuscript inscriptions along the upper margin "Famous Creeper. La.[tham] Syn.[opsis] 2. p.720 Certhea famosa. Lin.[naeus]". Excellent condition. Matted and framed.

A breathtaking drawing of a scintillating South African bird, by the greatest female bird artist of her day.

This spectacular drawing displays two male Malachite Sunbirds in the full glory of their breeding plummage. One individual pauses briefly, whilst a companion or rival flashes past: both dislpay their trademark elongated tail feathers. "The Malachite Sunbird, Nectarinia famosa is a small bird with two subspecies. Nectarina famosa famosa occurs mainly in South Africa, Lesotho and westernSwaziland, although its range just extends into southern Namibia and Zimbabwe. Nectarina famosa cupreonitens breeds in the highlands from Ethiopia south to northern Mozambique. …

The breeding male Malachite Sunbird, which has very long central tail feathers, is 25 cm long, and the shorter-tailed female 15 cm. The adult male is metallic green when breeding, with blackish-green wings with small yellow pectoral patches. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the male's upperparts are brown apart from the green wings and tail, the latter retaining the elongated feathers. The underparts in eclipse plumage are yellow, flecked with green.

The female has brown upperparts and dull yellow underparts with some indistinct streaking on the breast. Her tail is square-ended. The juvenile resembles the female. This species is common in the highlands. It is territorial and aggressive when nesting, but highly gregarious when not breeding, forming flocks of more than 1000 birds. The call is a loud tseep-tseep, and the male Malachite Sunbird has a twittering song, often accompanied by pointing its head upward and displaying the yellow pectoral tufts with its wings half open. Males also have an elaborate display flight." (wikipedia)

Although these drawings are is unsigned there is no doubt that they are the work of Sarah Stone. To paraphrase Christine Jackson: "Evidence pointing to the paintings being the work of Sarah Stone is based on her characteristic use of sized paper, her stylistic treatment of trees and branches , her manner of painting feathers and claws of birds" (Christine Jackson Sarah Stone p.128). In addition it is inscribed in a very characteristic fashion (see below).

The largest surviving group of Sarah Stone drawings are gathered together in an album that is now in the Natural History Museum collection in London. Christine Jackson illustrates a number of drawings from this album, including one dated 1781. The drawings were all annotated at a slightly later date by an unknown hand who added the common and Latin binomial name of each bird depicted and page and volume number where it was described in the text of John Latham's A General Synopsis of Birds (London: 1781-1785, 3 volumes). The present drawing is on paper that is very close in size to the Natural History Museum album, and is inscribed by the same hand, using the same formula as the album drawings. In addition the species is not one of those that is already depicted in the album. The dating is approximate, but the likelihood is that the majority of the drawings in the album (and the present companion piece) were executed before Sarah Stone's marriage to Captain John Langdale Smith R.N. in 1789, and the earlier date is suggested by the dated drawing in the album.

Sarah Stone was most notably connected with the Leverian Museum where she was employed by Sir Ashton Lever to record the contents of his "Wunderkammer". The Morning Post of 25 March 1784 noted that the museum, at that time, was exhibiting over 1000 'transparent drawings in watercolour' by Sarah Stone. In addition she worked on a number subjects brought back from India for Sir Elijah and Lady Impey, and Australia for John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales (London: 1790). She was also employed by John Latham to colour a few copies of his A General Synopsis of Birds . As Miss Sarah Stone, she exhibited at the Society of Artists twice and at the Royal Academy between 1780 and 1786. She continued exhibiting intermittently at the Society of Artists under her married name until about 1801.

Christine E. Jackson Dictionary of Bird Painters (Woodbridge: 1999) p.442; Christine E. Jackson Sarah Stone Natural Curiosities from the New Worlds (London, 1998)
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[with]

STONE, Sarah (1761-1844). Black & blue Creeper ... Certhia cyanea [Red-legged Honeycreeper, Cyanerpes cyaneus]. [No place but London: no date but circa 1781-1789]. Original watercolour and bodycolour drawing, unsigned, on sized laid paper (9 3/4 x 13 3/4 inches), with early manuscript inscriptions along the upper margin "Balck & blue Creeper. La.[tham] Syn.[opsis] 2. p.724 Certhea famosa. Lin.[naeus]". Excellent condition. Matted and framed.

A breathtaking drawing of a spectacular Central American bird, by the greatest female bird artist of her day.

In this excellent drawing Sarah Stone depicts two male Red-legged Honeycreepers. They jostle for dominance, flashing their wings as they do so. "The Red-legged Honeycreeper (Cyanerpes cyaneus) is a small songbird species in the tanager family (Thraupidae). It is found in the tropical New World from southern Mexico south to Peru, Boliva and central Brazil, Trinidad and Tobago, and on Cuba … [It ] is on average 12.2 cm long, weighs 14 g and has a medium-long black, slightly decurved, bill. The male is violet-blue with black wings, tail and back, and bright red legs. The crown of its head is turquoise, and the underwing … is lemon yellow. After the breeding season, the male moults into an eclipse plumage, mainly greenish with black wings. Females and immatures are mainly green, with paler, faintly streaked underparts. The legs are red-brown in the female, and brown in young birds. The call of Red-legged Honeycreeper is a thin, high-pitched tsip. Several subspecies are known. Differences are generally slight, with the Tobago race C. c. tobagensis being slightly larger than the mainland forms for example." (wikipedia)

The drawings are available as a pair or separately.