Voyage de la COQUILLE. Mollusques No. 1

ArtistAfter Rene Primevere Lesson (1794 - 1849)

Engraver Jean Coutant (French, 1776 - 1831)

Date1826 - 1830

Object number00017872

NameEngraving

MediumColoured engraving on paper

DimensionsOverall: 490 x 324 mm, 0.03 kg

ClassificationsArt

Credit LineANMM Collection

Terms

DescriptionMollusques Plate No. 1., depicting one Octopus and two Squid, from the Zoological atlas of Duperrey's expedition on LA COQUILLE. Above the image upper right 'Voy de la Coquille', upper left 'Mollusques no. 1Er'. The molluscs are numbered and identified below the image: '1. Poulpe blanc (Octopus niveus. Less); 2. Calmas d'Oualan (Loligo Oualaniensis. Less); 3. Onychoteuthe de Lesson (Onychoteuthis Lessonii de Ferussae)'. Artist's details: Prevost et Lesson pinx.; Courant sculp.; De imp de Remond.HistoryLouis Isidore Duperrey (1786-1865) conducted a voyage around the world in LA COQUILLE (1822-1825) with Dumont d'Urville as one of his officers. (LA COQUILLE was later renamed l'ASTROLABE for Dumont d'Urville's own expedition). Duperrey's voyage on the LA COQUILLE was one of the most notable of the French exploration voyages to the Pacific. The expedition set out with the intention of collecting scientific data and specimens, but also instructed to report on the possibility of establishing a penal colony in Western Australia. Duperrey had as his second-in-command Dumont d'Urville, who was to become the most experienced French commander in the Pacific. While science led the expedition, there was also an unspoken goal of discovering where France might carve out an empire in the South Pacific. His voyage was of some 73,000 miles, with major destinations including Australia, New Zealand, and New Guinea. SignificanceOne of the most significant outcomes of the LA COQUILLE expedition were the extensive scientific, cartographic and ethnographic discoveries. The results of the discovery of hundreds of new species were painstakingly recorded in high quality plates that would be published in Duperrey's nine volume account of the journey.