Velvet flamingo cushion

A velvet cushion depicting a flamingo from The Birds of America by John James Audubon, part of the Devonshire Collections. 

Size - 45cm x 35cm

John James Audubon (1785-1851) was an American ornithologist, naturalist and painter. Birds of America contains 435 plates showing life-size depictions of each bird, and the volumes are known as 'double elephant folio' due to their huge size (approximately 1m x 70cm). Audubon’s original watercolour paintings were used as the basis for the hand-engraved copper plates from which the images were printed; colour was applied by hand at the end of the process.