Ovibos Moschatus, GMEL Males Musk Ox

Audubon’s gorgeous mid-19th century depiction of a pair of musk oxen on rolling plains (rare Imperial Folio edition!)

This spectacular scene presents two male musk oxen standing proudly on a plateau, with rugged mountains and an unidentified body of water in the background. The incredibly lifelike depiction represents some of the earliest scientific efforts to accurately capture, in illustrated form, the diverse fauna of America. The landscape presumably depicts Alaska or northern Canada, the only regions in which these hearty bovines can be found. As described by the Smithsonian;

“This hand-colored lithograph was produced for “Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America,” the Imperial folio edition, published between 1845 and 1848. The work was a field study of North American mammals. It included 150 stone lithographs produced in three volumes of 50 prints per volume. The lithographs were based on watercolor drawings by John James Audubon and after 1846, son John Woodhouse Audubon, who completed the series due to the elder Audubon’s failing eyesight and declining health. Another son, Victor Gifford Audubon, assisted with the drawings backgrounds. The lithographs were printed on non-watermarked heavy white paper and coloring was applied by hand before the prints were bound.”

Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America was Audubon’s ambitious attempt to document the mammals of North America with the same artistic detail and scientific accuracy as his renowned Birds of America, though it did not achieve the same commercial success. All surviving examples of the Imperial Folio edition are scarce on the market, as fewer than 500 sets were originally printed.

Source: Smithsonian Institute