Lot 450: Short tailed magpie. 'Cissa thalassina' (Borneo and Java)

Thomas Lewin (b.1774)
Short tailed magpie. 'Cissa thalassina' (Borneo and Java)
signed 'D & P by Ths. Lewin.' (lower centre)
watercolour on paper
11½ x 10¼in. (29.2 x 26.1cm.)

Thomas Lewin was one of a family of remarkable bird artists. Both father William and his sons had access to the major natural history cabinets and collections of the time, including those of Sir Ashton Lever, Marmaduke Tunstall, Dr John Latham and the Duke and Duchess of Portland. Thomas's brother, John William Lewin, was granted a free passage to New South Wales in 1799 and worked there until his death in Sydney in 1819.

The largest collection of Thomas's bird drawings was sold in these Rooms, 30 April 1997, lot 44, an album of 143 drawings which included, according to Lewin's idenfications, birds from China, Africa, India, Turkey, Java, Australia, the Philippines and the Americas. The Hardwicke drawings in the Natural History Museum, London, contain 75 Lewin bird watercolours, only some of which are identified or dated (usually 1834-35), and a private English collection contains an album of 60 watercolours, dated 1821-28.