Original Botanical Prints · Flowers
Yucca Adam's Needle in Full Flower, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1812
No. BG-14336-13circa 1812
Close-ups
Framed and on the wall
Frame and rooms are illustrations of how the print could look, drawn to its real size; it is sold unframed unless the description says otherwise.
Flowers
Yucca Adam's Needle in Full Flower, Antique Bertuch Print, circa 1812
€180
$200 · £150
Original print, not a reproduction
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- Date
- circa 1812
- Technique
- Copper Engraving
- Colouring
- Original hand colour
- Condition
- Good. Good condition for its age. Light toning and a few small spots; nicks and minor wear along the right edge; small stain and faint pencil note in the lower right margin. Please review the images for further condition details.
- Collection
- Flowers
- Era
- 1800 to 1849, The golden age of botanical art
- Stock no.
- BG-14336-13
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.
This antique botanical print from Bertuch's Bilderbuch shows a yucca in full flower, the plant known in gardens as Adam's needle. The heading reads Pflanzen CXIX and the Vienna mark XIII.B.2 is at lower right.
A tall branched spike of creamy bell shaped flowers rises from a rosette of stiff grey green leaves, and beside it a single leaf is drawn in outline to show the curling threads that peel from its margins, the feature that gives Yucca filamentosa its name. Native to the southeastern United States, the yucca had become a prized ornamental in European gardens, where its dramatic flowering was often reported as an event. The contrast of the coloured plant and the outline leaf gives the sheet a strong graphic quality.
Friedrich Justin Bertuch (1747 to 1822) began his Bilderbuch fuer Kinder in Weimar in 1790 as a picture encyclopaedia for young readers, and over four decades it grew to almost 1,200 plates on plants, animals, peoples, antiquities and the sciences. Its success led to other editions, and this sheet comes from the Vienna edition begun by Anton Pichler as the Bilderbuch zum Nutzen und Vergnuegen der Jugend, with text in German and French; Pichler issued the first ten volumes, and the later volumes, including this one, are believed to have been issued by B. Ph. Bauer in Vienna. The Vienna plates were newly engraved after the Weimar originals, keep the Weimar subject numbering in a heading in German, Latin and French, and carry a volume and plate number in the lower margin, here the mark XIII.B.2. Vienna volume XIII follows Weimar volume VII, which appeared in 1810, so this plate was published no earlier than that. The plate is a copper engraving with original hand colour, as the Vienna volumes were issued coloured.
A plate like this suits a kitchen, study or garden room, and it hangs well in a group with other Bertuch botanical sheets of the same size. For a collector it is also a neat example of how the Bilderbuch travelled beyond Weimar in the years around 1800.
The sheet is in good condition for its age, with light toning, a few small spots and minor nicks and wear along the right edge; the image is clean.
This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed.
