Apr 07, 2022 - Sale 2600

Sale 2600 - Lot 4

Price Realized: $ 6,000
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 5,000 - $ 7,500
(AMERICAN INDIANS.) Johann Jacob Kleinschmidt, engraver. Tomo Chachi Mico oder König von Yamacran. Engraving, 8 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches, on laid paper; cropped just within margins, minor wear and foxing, laid down on early paper with mount remnants on verso; early owner's inked stamp on verso. [Halle, Germany, circa 1735?]
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Tomochichi was raised among the Creek people and left to found his own Yamacraw tribe on what soon became the Georgia coast. Eager for trade with the English, in 1733 he granted James Oglethorpe permission to create the settlement of Savannah. The next year he and a small group of his people accompanied Oglethorpe on a trip to England, where they had an audience with George II, and were present for the signing of the treaty establishing the settlement. During this visit, Tomochichi, his nephew Toonahowi, and a captive bald eagle sat for a formal portrait.

This engraving was originally published as an illustration to a scarce Georgia emigration tract by Samuel Urlsperger, "Der ausführlichen Nachrichten von der Königlich-Gross-Britannischen Colonie Saltzburgischer Emigranten in America." The source image was a 1734 British mezzotint by John Faber after the original painting by William Verelst (here credited as "pinxt.") Howes U27; Sabin 98133. A large-margined example recently hammered for $13,000.