SKETCH OF THE HUTS OF KAMCHATKA COPIED AFTER COOK [translation of portion of manuscript caption title]

Nagasaki, Japan, March 1805.. Gouache and ink on paper, 7 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches. Signed along lower edge of image, original manuscript caption written on verso. One-inch chip in upper left corner, small chip in upper right corner and center of lower edge, else very good. Mounted at upper corners onto heavier paper stock. Archival matting, and protected with mylar sheet. A handsome original gouache and ink on paper copy of plate seventy-two in the atlas of Cook's third voyage, called "A View of Bolcheretzkoi, in Kamtschatka." This copy of the view of Kamchatka natives, their huts, and their animals was made during the Krusenstern circumnavigation of the globe (1803 to 1806). It was drawn by Herman von Friderici, who was major of the General Staff for Ambassador Rezanov, and was presented to Wilhelm Gottlieb Tilesius von Tilenau, a naturalist and artist on the Krusenstern expedition. A manuscript note on the verso in Tilesius' hand explains that it was made by Friderici and given as a gift. Comparison with the actual plate in the Cook atlas shows this to be a very accomplished copy, with all the details from the original reproduced very faithfully. Ambassador Rezanov's mission was to attempt to open Japan to Russian trade, but he was ultimately unsuccessful.

An interesting artifact, linking the Krusenstern and Cook voyages.