Chinese paintings of flowering plants, hand-colored on rice paper
Overview
18 Chinese botanical illustrations featuring insects. Gouache on pith paper, probably made in Canton, circa 1850.
Dates
- Creation: circa 1850
Conditions Governing Access
Restricted: Material extremely fragile. Please contact botref@oeb.harvard.edu for additional information.
Extent
0.5 linear feet (1 box, 1 shared flat box) : 18 sheets : color illustrations ; detached from album with woven floral silk cover ; 22 x 34 cm + 25 x 38 cm18 Chinese botanical illustrations featuring insects. Gouache on pith paper, edged with silk ribbon and further applied to paper. Probably made in Canton, circa 1850.
Title derived from bookseller’s description.
Bookseller’s description attached to album endpage: "Hand-colored on rice paper. Oblong folio, loosely mounted in silk borders on paper backgrounds. ... These appear to have been made around 100 years ago, and are all very exquisite, each plate having some appropriate insect hovering over the flower."
Provenance
Purchased, January 1912. Number [25,470].
General note
Harvard's Imaging Services department digitized this collection as part of the "Original botanical illustrations of the Botany Libraries" project.
- Title
- Chinese paintings of flowering plants, hand-colored on rice paper, circa 1850: A Guide.
- Status
- completed
- Author
- Botany Libraries, Arnold Arboretum Library (Cambridge), Harvard University.
- Description rules
- dacs
- Language of description
- eng
- EAD ID
- arn00019
Repository Details
Part of the Botany Libraries, Arnold Arboretum Library (Cambridge), Harvard University Repository
The Harvard University Herbaria houses five research libraries that are managed collectively as the Botany Libraries. The Arnold Arboretum Library in Cambridge specializes in the identification and classification of Old World plants with emphasis on Asia. The Archives of the Arnold Arboretum (Cambridge) houses unique resources, primarily field notes related to the plant specimens housed in Cambridge.
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botref@oeb.harvard.edu