untitled

untitled , 1600s

Where object was made: Holy Roman Empire (present-day Germany)

Material/technique: engraving

Dimensions:
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 88 x 130 mm
Plate Mark/Block Dimensions (Height x Width): 3 7/16 x 5 1/8 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 297 x 178 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 11 11/16 x 7 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 16 x 20 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Letha Churchill Walker Memorial Art Fund and Museum of Art Acquisition Fund

Accession number: 1998.0687.01

Not on display

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Images

Label texts

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World

These elegant imaginary flowers fall in the category of ornament prints. In this case, a central plant or plant-derived ornament is flanked by houses, castles, or other manmade structures. The unknown creator of these images invented fanciful blooms with no real-world counterparts. Although the tiny people and places depicted in these plates suggest the artist’s or their patron’s curiosity about the world of humans, the beauty and peculiarity of the botanical realm takes center stage and everything else is pushed aside.

Big Botany: Conversations with the Plant World

Archive Label 2003: The flowers presented in this series of engravings are imaginary. Blooms and foliage surge to the foreground as if just popped from the bud and dwarf the imaginary land- and seascapes behind them. These floral patterns and their like could be forerunners of what we know as “Pennsylvania Dutch” design. Exhibition Label: "Cabinets of Curiosity: Musing About Collections," Jun-2006, Joseph Keehn and Madeline Rislow These twelve engravings of flowers set in landscapes bespeak a fascination with the seemingly endless variation found in nature that is similar to that encountered in cabinets of curiosity. The relationship of these remarkable blooms to their landscape settings remains a puzzle.