Mark Catesby, English, born Essex, - The Sole (Solea lunata & c) - 1731-1743 - T-Shirt

This hand-colored copper engraving shows a sole fish in side view, set on an open sheet of pale paper as one of Mark Catesby's natural history plates from the 1730s and 1740s.

Visual Elements & Composition

The flatfish fills the centre of the plate in lateral view, its elongated oval body running the length of the composition. Fan-shaped fins frame the edges, drawn with fine engraved lines that show each ray. Dark olive brown dominates the fish and its markings, against a large field of off-white paper that gives the plate its airy, archival quality. Small touches of turquoise blue and muted sepia appear through the colouring, and the spotted pattern across the body reads as crisp, deliberate detail. Printed lettering runs along the plate, including "Solea Iunata &c" and "Tab. 7," which label the specimen as a numbered entry.

Meaning & Symbolism

Catesby documented the flora and fauna of the American colonies during his years of fieldwork, and this sole is a record of that effort. Its inscribed name, Solea lunata, places the fish in a formal classification system, reflecting the Enlightenment ambition to describe the natural world with precision. The plate pairs image and text, linking observed specimens with a structured scientific understanding of Atlantic marine life. Catesby's landmark work, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, remains one of the most influential illustrated surveys made by an Englishman in the eighteenth century.

On the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee

A tee carries the plate across the chest in a single, uninterrupted view, so the fish reads as it would on a page: a whole figure, numbered and labelled, seen from a step back. The spotted body and fanned fins stay legible at a glance, and the engraved lines give the wearer a close-up of old scientific craft. The sole becomes a small piece of Catesby's expedition work to wear through the day.