Description: Rare 1816 Hand-Colored Copperplate Stipple-Engraving from: DICTIONNAIREDESSCIENCES NATURELLESPlanches BOTANIQUE POIVRIER PIPER nigrum (Black Pepper) This beautiful, scarce Pair (set) of original antique, hand-colored botanical engravings from the Botanique section of Pierre Jean Francis Turpin’s epic Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles. It appears to be from the French version.These prints are like gorgeous gems. The drawing, composition, detail work in the stipple-engraving, the brilliant coloring 'A La poupee' (colored in the plate) & hand-water-coloring are magnificent. they're also in superb condition with the colors as vibrant as they come, & the paper showing very little age or toning. This is a true find. The Artist:The French botanist and illustrator Pierre Jean François Turpin (1775 -1840) is considered one of the greatest floral and botanical illustrators of his time.In 1794 he was stationed in Haiti as a member of the French Army where he met botanist Pierre Antoine Poiteau (1766-1854).Turpin and Poiteau collaborated in a study of Haitian flora; they collected an herbarium of some 1,200 plants, of which Turpin made drawings of a large number, and of which they together described about 800 species.Through his collaboration with Poiteau and other naturalists, Turpin created some of the finest watercolors and illustrations of plants that are known to exist. As a botanical artist Turpin achieved a fame equal to that of Redouté. He collaborated on a number of the most important botanical publications of the early nineteenth century. The Author:Antoine Laurent de Jussieu, 1748 – 1836) was a French botanist, notable as the first to publish a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today. His classification was based on an extended unpublished work by his uncle, the botanist Bernard de Jussieu. The Volumes:The Dictionnaire des Sciences Naturelles was an epic, comprehensive illustrated work of Natural History, with 72 volumes ultimately published between 1816 and 1830, comprising 60 volumes of text, 11 of plates and 1 of tables.The text was written by the luminaries of science of the time, everyone from Cuvier to Lamarck. The Plates:Most of the illustrations in this work were engraved under the direction of Turpin, after paintings by Turpin & Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, a total of some 1191 plates in black and white with deluxe versions in hand-color (with versions of all the plate volumes published in entirely black & white apparently) Every part of these prints was made by hand: Hand drawn & engraved on Copper which was hand-mined, smelted & rolled, printed onto handmade cotton rag paper, inked & colored with hand-ground pigments individually by hand, & they were usually hand sewn into handmade leather-bound books. Condition:Appears to be in excellent condition for a 208-year-old engraving. The hand-coloring appears to remain sharp & brilliant as the day it was painted. very little age-toning for a print this old. An exceptionally clean, pristine print. Please peruse the detailed photos. These prints are very old & may have minor imperfections expected with age, such as some typical age-toning of the paper, oxidation of the old original watercolors, spots, text-offsetting, artifacts from having been bound into a book, etc. Please examine the photos & details carefully.Text Page(s): This one comes without original text page. I've added a scan of a sample cover page from one of the volumes & an atlas volume to the listing photos for reference, it's not part of the listing. About this gorgeous plant:Black pepper (Piper nigrum) is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit (the peppercorn), which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning.Pepper is native to the Malabar Coast of India, the Malabar pepper is extensively cultivated there and in other tropical regions.Ground, dried, and cooked peppercorns have been used since antiquity, both for flavor and as a traditional medicine. Black pepper is the world's most traded spice,[5] and is one of the most common spices added to cuisines around the world.Its spiciness is due to the chemical compound piperine, which is a different kind of spiciness from that of capsaicin characteristic of chili peppers. It is ubiquitous in the Western world as a seasoning. Size: 7-3/4" x 4-3/4" approximately.Shipping: Multiple prints combine into one USPS Flat-Rate envelope. If you'd like to combine & need more time to choose, please send a message & we'll do our best to oblige. If you're assessed multiple shipping for one combined package, we'll endeavor to refund any overage asap. Thanks for Visiting!
Price: 44.5 USD
Location: Great Barrington, Massachusetts
End Time: 2024-11-02T22:48:40.000Z
Shipping Cost: 11 USD
Product Images
Item Specifics
All returns accepted: ReturnsNotAccepted
Artist: Turpin Pinxit et Direxit
Signed By: Turpin & Coignet
Image Orientation: Portrait
Size: Octavo
Signed: Yes
Title: Piper Nigrum
Material: Paper
Region of Origin: Europe
Original/Licensed Reprint: Original
Subject: Biology, Botanical, Flowers, France, Still Life, Botany, Flora, Fuchsia, Botanique, Spices
Type: Hand-Colored Original Engraving Print
Year of Production: 1816-1829
Item Height: 7-3/4"
Style: Natural History
Theme: Food & Drink, History, Natural History, Nature, Science & Medicine, Botany, Flowers, Food
Features: 1st Edition
Production Technique: Hand-Colored Copperplate Engraving
Country/Region of Manufacture: France
Handmade: Yes
Item Width: 4-3/4"
Time Period Produced: 1800-1849