Lot Essay
For a similar vignette drawing of the same size, date and form of inscription see the Javanese Peacock in the Houghton Library, Harvard University (repr. in colour, V. Noakes, Edward Lear 1812-1888, exhibition catalogue, Royal Academy, 1981, p.25 no.50); slightly smaller and from 1830 is Mrs Wentworth's Bird (repr. V. Noakes, The Painter Edward Lear, 1991, p.33 in colour)