Tree Peony Impératrice de France, Paeonia Moutan Chromolithograph, 1858

This is an original antique botanical print, a chromolithograph printed in color, numbered plate I and lettered "PAEONIA MOÙTAN Sims. VAR. Impératrice de France. Sieb." It shows a tree peony of the variety Impératrice de France: one very large flower fills the center of the sheet, its broad ruffled petals a deep rose pink with frilled, paler edges, opening around a dense ring of yellow stamens with the pale purple carpels at the heart. A curving green stem carries dark green leaves above and below the flower, some turned to show their gray green undersides.

The lettering at the foot gives the name with its authority, Sims for the species and Siebold ("Sieb.") for the variety. The artist's line at lower left reads "Q. M. R. Ver Hùell, ad. vivum, del." (Q. M. R. Ver Huell drew it from life), and the line at lower right reads "L. Stroobant Sc. & Lith à Gand." (L. Stroobant engraved and lithographed it in Ghent). The plate number I. is printed at the top right. A small accent mark printed over the U of MOÙTAN marks the stressed syllable.

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. Q. M. R. Ver Huell (1787 to 1860), the Dutch naval officer and artist, drew a number of the plates for the first volume. 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.