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Hand Colored Besler Engraving
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Solanum Pomiferum. Basil Besler (1561-1629). Hand-colored copperplate engraving from the Hortus Eystettensis. 19 1/2 x 16 inches sheet, 32 x 28 inches framed each. Basil Besler’s great botanical work, the Hortus Eystettensis, is a landmark of botanical documentation and pre-Linnaean classification, as well as one of the most splendidly stylized and aesthetically powerful botanical works ever produced. Besler used the garden of Johann Conrad von Gemmingen, Bishop of Eichstätt, Germany as an encyclopedic resource and the basis for the Hortus Eystettensis, in which he studied and depicted over a thousand flowers, representing 667 species in all. Published one hundred and fifty years before Linnaeus created his thorough system of classification, Besler’s great florilegium represents an impressive early attempt to classify plants for the benefit of botanists, doctors and apothecaries.
Besler printed two different editions of the book, a common one, which ran some 300 copies, and a special edition, of which between only 20 and 30 copies were made and it is from one such book that these beautiful engravings are derived. These special editions were intended to be given as gifts by the Bishop to other heads of state, and due to the hand-coloring, cost up to 500 florins, as opposed to the 35 florins for the common edition. The book from which these plates are derived was a completely unique copy, originally the property of a French owner and perhaps purchased during the second half of the seventeenth century. Notes contained in this edition of the work suggest that it recorded the flowering of some of the plants in a real garden in France explaining the unique arrangement of the copy. This Hortus did not appear in its usual assembly, according to the four seasons, but instead was organized month by month. Thus, these engravings represent an opportunity to acquire exceptionally rare plates from a unique copy of Basil Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis.
Provenance: Probably the Besler family; Anon. French owner, perhaps purchased in the second half of the 17th C.; Sotheby’s Monaco S. A. at Monte Carlo, October 20, 1986; Burgess-Browning Ltd; W. Graham Arader III
19 1/2 x 16 inches sheet, 32 x 28 inches framed each
Provenance: Probably the Besler family; Anon. French owner, perhaps purchased in the second half of the 17th C; Sotheby’s Monaco S. A. at Monte Carlo, October 20, 1986; Burgess-Browning Ltd; W. Graham Arader III
Besler printed two different editions of the book, a common one, which ran some 300 copies, and a special edition, of which between only 20 and 30 copies were made and it is from one such book that these beautiful engravings are derived. These special editions were intended to be given as gifts by the Bishop to other heads of state, and due to the hand-coloring, cost up to 500 florins, as opposed to the 35 florins for the common edition. The book from which these plates are derived was a completely unique copy, originally the property of a French owner and perhaps purchased during the second half of the seventeenth century. Notes contained in this edition of the work suggest that it recorded the flowering of some of the plants in a real garden in France explaining the unique arrangement of the copy. This Hortus did not appear in its usual assembly, according to the four seasons, but instead was organized month by month. Thus, these engravings represent an opportunity to acquire exceptionally rare plates from a unique copy of Basil Besler’s Hortus Eystettensis.
Provenance: Probably the Besler family; Anon. French owner, perhaps purchased in the second half of the 17th C.; Sotheby’s Monaco S. A. at Monte Carlo, October 20, 1986; Burgess-Browning Ltd; W. Graham Arader III
19 1/2 x 16 inches sheet, 32 x 28 inches framed each
Provenance: Probably the Besler family; Anon. French owner, perhaps purchased in the second half of the 17th C; Sotheby’s Monaco S. A. at Monte Carlo, October 20, 1986; Burgess-Browning Ltd; W. Graham Arader III
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Hand Colored Besler Engraving
Estimate $5,000 - $8,000
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