19th C Large Scrapbook Page Composition with Very Fine Botanical Watercolor at Center marble dust drawing with a great patina of

with a great patina of stains and scuffs and paint spatters

So the watercolor here is of a dogfish embryo being nourished by a yolk sac

as if sleep walking or preparing to deliver a a big

Wonderfully graphic and really fabulous I think

) I can’t find another example of a painted wooden figure quite like this one out there—I am sure made for the tourist trade

19th C Large Scrapbook Page Composition with Very Fine Botanical Watercolor at Center marble dust drawing with a great patina ofI've used a magnifier to confirm that the flowers at the center of this scrapbook page are indeed done in watercolor so finely it is quite difficult to imagine how, but so it is glorious! That panel certainly deserves to be at the center, but there are delights everywhere here, with collaged images and clippings and very carefully handwritten text all carefully arranged and commenting on one another. I especially like the "bottle imp" at lower left.