Floral Elegance of the Americas: A Botanical Print of a Spigelia Species, c.1821

€ 240

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

Date: 1821
Sheet size: 30.3 × 22.3 cm (11.9 × 8.8 in)
Condition: Fair
Reference: BG-13584-8

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

Age-related toning. Minor wear, blank verso. Please review the images for further condition details.

About this sheet

Spigelia anthelmintica, the pinkroot, a hand-colored copper engraving titled "Spigélie anthelminthique", from Phytographie médicale by Joseph Roques, engraved by Édouard Auguste Patrice Hocquart and published about 1821. The plate number appears at the upper right of the sheet.

A single leafy plant fills the sheet, drawn with its root system exposed at the foot. Pairs of broad, pointed green leaves are set around an upright stem, and slender spikes of small red flowers curve out from the tops, opening to pale green at the base of each spike. Two small enlarged details of a flower and a seed capsule sit at the lower left, and the botanical name is engraved in script below.

The genus Spigelia, of the family Loganiaceae, grows in the warmer parts of the Americas, and species were used in European medicine as a worm remedy, hence the name anthelmintic. Roques's book, issued in 1821 and 1824, described medicinal plants and was illustrated with color plates by Hocquart.