Tahiti. Flotte de Taiti. Chief and Tahitian Fleet. c1834

by Louis de Sainson

Antique Print. Tahitian Chief and Fleet of Canoes.

Antique engraving published in Paris between 1834 and 1835 for Voyages Pittoresque Autour de Monde  (Picturesque Voyages around the World) by Dumont d'Urville, included voyages of discoveries in the Pacific.

Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842), was a French naval officer who captained a vessel of exploration at the beginning of the nineteenth century. D'Urville combined engravings from the drawings by his official expedition artist Louis Auguste de Sainson (1801-1887), with sketches and engravings from previous voyages (most notably, those from James Cook's third voyage between 1776 and 1780).

Most of the engravings were printed two on a page, one above the other, but a few such as this one, occupied the whole page. The page measures 265 x 175mm (approximately 10.5 x 7 inches). This page has later hand-colour.