Japanese Morning Glory Azurea, Pharbitis Polymorpha Plate IV, 1858

This is an original antique botanical print, a chromolithograph printed in color, numbered plate IV and lettered "PHARBITIS POLYMORPHA Sieb & de Vries VAR. AZUREA." A climbing stem of morning glory winds through the sheet with one wide open flower at the upper left in pale lavender blue, white and cream toward the throat. A long furled bud stands at the top, a second bud tipped with pink sits at the right, and the three lobed leaves are a fresh green with yellow green veining along their surfaces.

The name is lettered in capitals with the authority "Sieb & de Vries" (Siebold and de Vriese) and the variety azurea, meaning sky blue. Beneath it the line "L. Stroobant Sc. & Lith à Gand." records that L. Stroobant engraved and lithographed the plate in Ghent. The plate number IV. is printed at the top right. No artist is named on this plate.

The plate comes from the first 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 1858 for the Société royale d'horticulture des Pays-Bas under the patronage of King William III. The title page of this volume names Ph. Fr. de Siebold and W. H. de Vriese as its editors. The work recorded cultivated and ornamental plants grown in the Netherlands and introduced from the Dutch possessions in the East Indies, from America and from Japan. 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.