Animal of the Cape of Good Hope / Pheasant Feathers

One side of this sheet features a watercolour of a cape grey mongoose, inscribed ‘Animal of the Cape of Good Hope’. The other side features several sketches of small and large pheasant feathers, coloured with watercolour. These drawings are the work of naval officer Aiskew Paffard Hollis (1764–1844). The mongoose sketch was probably made between 1796 and 1798, when Hollis was serving at the Cape of Good Hope, initially in the 'Chichester' and later in the 'Tremendous'. For other examples of his work, see PAH4885 and ZBB0352–84.