Bromelia Commeliniana, Flowering Bromeliad Chromolithograph, 1859

This is an original antique botanical print, a chromolithograph printed in color, lettered "BROMELIA COMMELINIANA De Vriese". It shows a bromeliad in flower: a tall green stem rises from a rosette of long narrow leaves in green and wine red, and carries crowded spikes of violet purple tubular flowers set among green and cream bracts. A separate flowering spike stands at the left, and the letter A marks the corresponding point on the main spike.

The name is lettered in capitals with the authority "De Vriese". At lower left the artist's line reads "J. Gaÿkema, ad. viv in Hort. Lugd. Bat." (drawn by J. Gaÿkema from the living plant in the botanic garden at Leiden), and at lower right "L. Stroobant Sc. & Lith à Gand." (engraved and lithographed by L. Stroobant in Ghent). No plate number is printed on this plate.

The plate comes from the second volume of the Annales d'horticulture et de botanique, ou Flore des jardins du royaume des Pays-Bas, published at Leiden by A. W. Sythoff in 1859 for the Société royale d'horticulture des Pays-Bas under the patronage of King William III. The journal recorded cultivated and ornamental plants grown in the Netherlands and introduced from the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, from America and from Japan. Hort. Lugd. Bat. stands for Hortus Lugduno-Batavus, the botanic garden of Leiden University. L. Stroobant was a lithographer working in Ghent (Gand in French).

The strong color and clear drawing make it a good choice for a study, a garden room or a hallway, framed singly or in a group of plates from the same work.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.