Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E , Case DP, Shelf 2, Box B

Oswego Tea-plant

Drawing
about 1740 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This watercolour seems to have been an isolated attempt by Ehret to imitate the style of the 'velins du roi', the great collection of botanical and animal portraits on vellum begun under Gaston d'Orléans, the younger brother of Louis XIII of France. Until his visit to Paris in the winter of 1734-5 to see the collection, Ehret had always painted on paper. However the studies he sent to his patron Christoph Trew, the Nuremberg botanist and physician, during his stay at the Jardin Royal des Plantes, were, as Trew noted in his memoir, painted on 'pergament' (vellum). The image was reused by Christoph Jacob Trew for his book Plantae selectae.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • Oswego Tea-plant (popular title)
  • Monarda didyma L. (generic title)
  • Leonurus Canadensii Origani folio (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour, bodycolour and gold leaf on vellum
Brief description
Botanical study, watercolour drawing of an Oswego Tea-plant or Bergamot, Monarda didyma, Georg Dionysius Ehret, about 1740, made in London; British.
Physical description
Botanical study showing stem, leaves, two red-orange flower heads, and one unopened bud surrounded by a border in gold-leaf.
Dimensions
  • Height: 52.8cm
  • Width: 36.6cm
Marks and inscriptions
  • G.D. Ehret. pinxt. (Signature; date; handwriting; ink, lower right)
  • Leonurus Canadensii Origani folio. Tourn. (Ink, lower centre)
Gallery label
Georg Dionysius Ehret 1708-70 Oswego Tea-plant (Monarda didyma L.) About 1740 This watercolour seems to have been an isolated attempt by Ehret to imitate the style of the 'velins du roi', the great collection of botanical and animal portraits on vellum begun under Gaston d'Orléans, the younger brother of Louis XIII of France. The image was reused by the Nuremberg botanist and physician Christoph Jacob Trew for his book Plantae selectae. London Watercolour, bodycolour and gold leaf on vellum V&A: D.588-1886(2011)
Subjects depicted
Summary
This watercolour seems to have been an isolated attempt by Ehret to imitate the style of the 'velins du roi', the great collection of botanical and animal portraits on vellum begun under Gaston d'Orléans, the younger brother of Louis XIII of France. Until his visit to Paris in the winter of 1734-5 to see the collection, Ehret had always painted on paper. However the studies he sent to his patron Christoph Trew, the Nuremberg botanist and physician, during his stay at the Jardin Royal des Plantes, were, as Trew noted in his memoir, painted on 'pergament' (vellum). The image was reused by Christoph Jacob Trew for his book Plantae selectae.
Bibliographic reference
Gill Saunders. Picturing Plants: An Analytical History of Botanical Illustration (Zwemmer/V&A, London, 1995), p.10, ill. in colour
Collection
Accession number
D.588-1886

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Record createdJune 30, 2009
Record URL
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