Antique Orchid & Bromeliad Chromolithographs 1897 – Karatas, Aechmea, Billbergia

1897 · Birds, Plants & Natural History

Antique Orchid & Bromeliad Chromolithographs 1897 – Karatas, Aechmea, Billbergia

Name: Antique Orchid & Bromeliad Chromolithographs 1897 – Karatas, Aechmea, Billbergia
Brand: American Maps and Prints
SKU: BG-13692-4-16, -17,- 18
Price: 380 USD
Availability: InStock

$380

€340 · dollar price at today's exchange rate

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Shipping to the United States: $51 standard, $73 express, insured and tracked.

Date: 1897
Kind: Birds, Plants & Natural History
Size: 24 × 15.9 cm (9.4 × 6.3 in)
Condition: Good. Condition report: Very good condition overall. Paper with minor age toning, occasional faint foxing in margins, and light edge wear not affecting the printed area. Vibrant original color preserved. Is sold without the frame.
Period: The Gilded Age
Reference: BG-13692-4-16, -17,- 18

What the condition grades mean

Excellent: Bright and clean, with no faults worth mentioning.
Very good: Only light signs of age, such as faint toning.
Good: Normal signs of age for a sheet of this period: toning, some foxing, small marks or neat old repairs.
Fair: Clear faults such as staining, tears or repairs, priced to match.

Every fault we see is written in the condition note, and the whole sheet is shown uncropped in the photos.

Guaranteed original. This is an original of the period stated, not a later reproduction or print-on-demand copy. If it is ever shown to be otherwise, we refund you in full.

Shipping to the United States. Sent from our gallery in Langweer, the Netherlands, flat between boards or rolled in a tube, and fully insured. Delivery and import charges.

About this piece

Three bromeliad plates from Edward Step's Favorite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse, published in 1897, each printed in color by chromolithography. The sheets show Karatas scheretmetiewi, Aechmea fulgens and Billbergia nutans.

The first plate shows Karatas as a rosette of stiff green leaves with scarlet bracts at its heart, with a spray of roots and three small flower details below. The second shows the tall, branching Aechmea fulgens, its upright stem hung with red berries and small blue-violet flowers, set against two broad green leaves, with a flower detail at the lower left. The third shows Billbergia nutans, with narrow arching leaves, a pink stem and drooping flowers with blue-edged petals and yellow stamens, and a single flower drawn separately beside it.

These plants come from tropical America, and Victorian greenhouse growers prized them for their striking forms and colors. Chromolithography allowed the book to give each plant a lifelike color and a clear botanical drawing.

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