Arecoideae Palm Trees in Serra dos Órgãos, Brazil, circa 1861
€ 130
Original antique · The actual sheet photographed · Certificate of authenticity on request · Sold unframed · Worldwide shipping from € 15 (rates)
Date
1861
Sheet size
33.5 × 24.5 cm (13.2 × 9.6 in)
Reference
BG-13748-69
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. Some light staining in margins, not affecting image. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Folding line as issued. Please study scan carefully.
About this sheet
Oil palms in the Serra dos Órgãos mountains of Brazil, a large chromolithograph dated about 1861 and lettered "L'Elaeis guineensis dans les montagnes des Orgues (Serra dos Orgaos) au Brésil". The imprint names Louis van Houtte of Ghent.
A tall palm stands at the left with feathery fronds and a bunch of fruit, and a dark leafy shrub grows at its foot. In the middle distance a rough thatched hut with an open frame stands beside a dirt track, where a man in a blue shirt and hat leads a mule, with two more pack mules grazing near the house. Behind rise the bare, craggy peaks of the Serra dos Órgãos, pink and orange in the light of a yellow sky, with banks of clouds above and wooded slopes below.
The sheet is a landscape in which the palm is the botanical subject, and it combines the exactness of a plant plate with the setting of a view. Van Houtte, a Belgian horticulturist and nurseryman, had himself traveled in Brazil in his early career.
