Emanuel Sweert (Hyacinth) Florilegium…Frankfurt [1612]-1647. $695.00

Plate J4   “Hya minor Indica tuberosa Radice…“
 

Beautiful plate of two varieties of heirloom hyacinth. The designs are beautifully balanced on the page and the captions elegantly inscribed. Created by the Dutch painter and horticulturist Emanuel Sweert (1522 - 1612), copper plate engraving with later hand color. Plate 6Z from Sweert's "Florilegium Amplissumum et Selectissimum," considered to be the first nursery man's catalogue and published in Frankfurt am Main in 1612. The Florilegium was made by Sweert as a guide to his available plant stock for the Frankfurt Fair at the time that Sweert was working as head of gardens for Emperor Rudolf II in Vienna. The plates depict 560 bulbs and flowers and were based on the Johann Theodore de Bry Florilegium which in turn was based on one by Pierre Vallet. The engravings became so popular that there were six editions of the work; in the following years a mania for tulips swept Europe.

Copperplate engraving, hand colored
14 5/8 x 9 ¾ inches sheet.
Very good condition.