Asteridea
Ernst Haeckel (lithograph by Adolf Giltsch), 1899–1904
$270
Print check at 18 x 24 in: 268 dpi, excellent. Trimmed 9% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $25.90 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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This plate from Kunstformen der Natur assembles twelve starfish species (Asteridea) at wildly varying scales and orientations — some shown whole, some in cross-section, one reduced to its bare skeletal plate structure — a compositional strategy Haeckel used throughout the atlas to turn a taxonomic survey into something closer to a decorative panel. Haeckel drew from specimens gathered on his own research voyages, particularly a formative expedition to the Mediterranean and Red Sea early in his career that convinced him marine invertebrates held the clearest evidence for his evolutionary theories. What to notice: the radial five-point symmetry that makes starfish instantly recognizable is exactly the kind of mathematical regularity in living form that obsessed Haeckel — he saw it as proof that nature followed aesthetic law as rigorously as physical law.
- Maker
- Ernst Haeckel (lithograph by Adolf Giltsch)
- Date
- 1899–1904
- Medium of the original
- Lithograph
- Original held by
- Wikimedia Commons
- Credit
- Wikimedia Commons
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00271
| Picture | 18 x 24 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 19.6 x 25.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 12 in | 589 | Excellent | Trimmed 2.3% |
| 12 x 16 in | 402 | Excellent | Trimmed 9% |
| 12 x 18 in | 392 | Excellent | Trimmed 2.3% |
| 16 x 24 in | 294 | Excellent | Trimmed 2.3% |
| 18 x 24 in | 268 | Excellent | Trimmed 9% |
| 20 x 30 in | 235 | Excellent | Trimmed 2.3% |
| 24 x 36 in | 196 | Good | Trimmed 2.3% |
| 30 x 40 in | 160 | Good | Trimmed 9% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | Wrong shape: a 15% crop |
| 11 x 14 in | Wrong shape: a 13% crop |
| 16 x 20 in | Wrong shape: a 15% crop |
| 24 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 15% crop |
| 36 x 48 in | 134 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 60 in | 117 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 4,825 x 7,073 px, srgb, sRGB IEC61966-2.1
- Tone
- Darks 104, lights 249 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 1.32
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $25.90, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
Cabinet of Curiosities
The old world’s book of wonders, for your wall.
All 69 pieces from Cabinet of Curiosities
