Decorative Panel With Nesting Birds, by Leon Gaucherel, Fr., (1816-1886)

Etching, after 1858, Ed. unknown, 9-3/4 x 5-1/2, signed in the plate bottom center below the ruled border, and possibly signed in pencil at lower right, on a thin white chine colle affixed to a cream laid support sheet with a partial HAL watermark, 11-7/8 x 10-1/2. There is scattered pale foxing to the full margins. Gaucherel focused mostly on reproductive etching after 1858, and this would seem to be a commissioned plate for a publication or portfolio on fine examples of architectural embellishment or decorative art. With Gaucherel's typically fine detail , the nesting birds with eggs in the nest, the floral wreaths, crossed arrows and bouquets, this design would seem to symbolize love, fertility, marriage and fidelity.