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Lot Essay
This 'basso relievo' picture was executed by the Islington artist Isaac Spackman (d.1771) as part of his sets of birds issued in 1754, 1764 and 1769, deriving from George Edwards's Natural History of Uncommon Birds, 1743-1751 ('More about Samuel Dixon and his Imitators', Quarterly Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society, June 1980, and Ada K. Longfield, 'Identifying Spackman's Embossed Bird Pictures', Country Life, 25 January 1979, pp. 196-197).
In this particular case, Spackman has directly imitated a picture by his Irish predecessor and competitor, Samuel Dixon. The Peacock Pheasant was part of Dixon's 1750 Foreign Birds series. A Dixon of this subject was sold anonymously, Sotheby's New York, 13 October 1990, lot 140.
In this particular case, Spackman has directly imitated a picture by his Irish predecessor and competitor, Samuel Dixon. The Peacock Pheasant was part of Dixon's 1750 Foreign Birds series. A Dixon of this subject was sold anonymously, Sotheby's New York, 13 October 1990, lot 140.