Crispin Van Passe Tulip Engravings

Object Description

16 Copper-plate engravings c1614, with fine later hand colouring.
Presented in hand-made verre églomisé, decoupaged frames with 23ct gold-leaf corner lattices. Print size: 24.0 cms x 17 cms. Framed size: 41 cms x 34.5 cms

Object History

A masterpiece of botanical illustration, Hortus Floridus, comprising 104 plates showing different garden flowers arranged by season and engraved by Crispin Van de Passe the younger (1589-1670), was published in 1614 to great acclaim. One of the earliest series of engravings to feature tulip varieties then being cultivated in Dutch flowers gardens, its publication coincided with the speculative bulb trade known as ‘Tulipomania’, which began with the importation of tulip bulbs from Turkey in the second half of the sixteenth century and culminated in the spectacular crash in the price of bulbs in 1637.

This set of sixteen tulip engravings is rare in that it contains the extra suite of tulips which Crispin de Passe added to the five tulip plates which appeared in the original collation of Hortus Floridus.

Object Condition

Excellent condition

Object Details