An Original Antique Palm Illustration of the Calamus Melanoloma, 1847
€ 190
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1847
Sheet size
44.5 × 29 cm (17.5 × 11.4 in)
Reference
BG-13714-2
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.
Condition
Good, given age. The sheet overall a little browned, especially around the edges. Two vertical creases. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.
About this sheet
The print is a botanical illustration from "Rumphia," which is a work by Carl Ludwig Blume, a noted 19th-century German-Dutch botanist.
This particular illustration is from volume 3, which was published in 1847, and shows plate (tab.) number 149. The plant depicted is Calamus melanoloma Mart., and it notes a synonym as Calamus anceps Blume. This indicates that the plant may have been initially described with one name (anceps) by Blume, but was later recognized under the name melanoloma by Mart. (which likely refers to the German botanist Carl Friedrich Philipp von Martius).
The plant belongs to the family Palmae, subfamily Calamoideae, tribe Calameae, and subtribe Calaminae. The epithet "anceps" was the cited name, but the recognized epithet is "melanoloma," which should be appended with the appropriate Latin gender ending as "melanolomus" for masculine, "melanoloma" for feminine, and "melanolomum" for neuter, depending on the grammatical gender of the genus name Calamus.
Botanical illustrations like this were crucial for scientific communication during that period, allowing botanists and other scientists to study plants from far-off lands with a level of precision that was not possible with written descriptions alone. The detailed nature of these illustrations also means they are still valuable today for historical and scientific reference.
