1769 Buffon French Engraving, La Chèvre d’Angora

An original 18th century French engraving from the 1769 edition of Georges Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière, published in Paris by the Imprimerie Royale.

Titled La Chèvre d’Angora, this particularly beautiful plate depicts an Angora goat with its extraordinary long, curling fleece. The goat stands within an elaborate landscape before architectural ruins and a tall palm, giving this engraving an especially decorative quality.

From Tome VI, the plate is signed Bréant Sculp.

Each engraving in this collection was individually removed from the same 1769 volume and is an authentic period print, not a later reproduction. Over 250 years old, the paper shows the expected signs of age, including toning, spotting and variations along the edges, all visible in the photographs.

France, 1769
Original copperplate engraving on laid paper