Lithograph on Chine appliqué, 1861. 650x498 mm; 25 5/8x19 5/8 inches (mount sheet), full margins. Préaud's first state B (of 2), with the "white bird" lower left and before the transfer to another stone in 1868. Edition of approximately 200 lieftime impressions. Printed by Lemercier, Paris, with the address"Imp Lemercier Paris" lower center. A brilliant, early and richly-inked impression of this very important lithograph.
Lifetime impressions, such as the current work, are extremely scarce; we locate only 6 other such impressions at auction in the past 25 years. There is also a more common, posthumous edition of approximately 800 impressions. Van Gelder 100; Prélaud 29.
