The Cur Widgeon / The Roman Fish of the Cape

One side of this sheet features a watercolour of a dead widgeon. On the other side is a watercolour of a red roman fish (Chrysoblephus laticeps), inscribed ‘The Roman Fish of the Cape’. Both drawings are the work of naval officer Aiskew Paffard Hollis (1764–1844). The drawing of the roman fish 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 Hollis’s work, see PAH4885 and ZBB0352–84.