Antique Allspice Botanical Print, Myrtus Pimenta, Hand Colored, c.1831

€ 690

Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)

Date: 1831
Sheet size: 27.1 × 22.7 cm (10.7 × 8.9 in)
Condition: Good
Reference: BG-14181-11

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

Moderate age-related toning and light surface dirt, consistent with early 19th-century material. No tears or losses.

About this sheet

Allspice, Myrtus Pimenta, a hand-colored copper engraving from Jonathan Carl Zenker's Merkantilische Waarenkunde, c.1831. The Latin name "Myrtus Pimenta L." is lettered at the head with "Taf. XI" at the upper right.

A flowering branch is drawn at full height, with large oval leaves in greens of different tones and branched clusters of small white flowers at the tips. Below it, in a row along the bottom edge, are numbered details: a sprig of ripe berries, a single berry whole and in section, a seed, and the parts of the flower opened out, including the many stamens. The coloring is limited to green on the foliage and a warm brown on the fruit, and the engraved line is left clear.

Allspice, or pimento, is native to the Caribbean and Central America, and its dried unripe berries were an important article of trade to Europe. Zenker's work belongs to the commercial botany of the early 19th century, and it described the plants behind the goods that merchants dealt in.