La Botanique - photo 1
La Botanique - photo 2
La Botanique - photo 3
La Botanique - photo 4
La Botanique - photo 5

La Botanique

Lot 45
02.02.2024 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 13 860
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1129663
Lot 45 | La Botanique
Estimate value
$ 10 000 – 15 000
REDOUTÉ, Pierre Joseph (1759–1840), artist and ROUSSEAU, Jean Jacques (1712–1778). La Botanique. Paris: Delachaussée and Garnery, 1805.

First edition, first issue, large-paper copy of Redouté’s beautifully illustrated edition of Rousseau’s Lettres Elementaires sur la Botanique (published posthumously in Rousseau’s Oeuvres, 1782). Redouté was commissioned to produce an illustrated edition of the Lettres, and this work was part of his earliest color-printed masterpieces of botanical illustration, appearing simultaneously with his illustrations for Ventenat’s Jardin de la Malmaison (1802–1805) and with the early volumes of Les Liliacées (1802–1817). Like that work, this one employs stipple-engraved plates, printed in colors by Langlois. Various engravers prepared the plates after Redouté’s originals.

Rousseau was an amateur botanist and, especially after his exile to Switzerland in 1764, he assembled herbaria of pressed flowers and plants, and studied botany with Adanson and others. The Lettres were first written at the request of Rousseau's friend, Madame Étienne Delessert, on behalf of her daughter's private study of botany. When the book was finally published it proved very popular. Specific to this edition, John Ruskin was among the many to find inspiration in Redouté's sumptuous glorification of Rousseau's writing. In 1878, he wrote to his friend, the bookseller F.S. Ellis: "Please at once set your Paris agents to look out for all the copies that come up, at any sale, of Rousseau’s Botanique with coloured plates, 1805–and buy all they can get ... Mind, this order for Rousseau is quite serious" (The Works of John Ruskin, edited by E.T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, London 1906). In fact, Ellis’s agents were unable to locate any copies. This copy has the first issue plates, printed before the plates were titled, and with plate 54 misnumbered 62. The work was issued in a variety of formats, including a quarto edition and, in 1824, an octavo edition. Hunt, Catalogue of Redoutéana 15; Stafleu and Cowan TL2 9688 ("some of [Redoute's] best work"); Dunthorne 252; Great Flower Books, p. 134; Nissen BBI 1688.

Folio (517 x 340mm). With stipple-engraved vignette of a flowering twig on the title and 65 stipple-engraved plates, printed in colors and finished by hand (some foxing to text and margins of plates). Contemporary half calf, spine gilt in compartments with raised bands (light wear, lower corners showing). Provenance: Henry Rogers Broughton, Lord Fairhaven, 1900–1973 (armorial bookplate; his sale Sotheby’s 18 May 2022, lot 190).
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
26.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
27.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
28.01.2024 13:00 – 17:00
29.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
30.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
31.01.2024 10:00 – 17:00
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) et Claude-Antoine THORRY (1757-1827)
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) et Claude-Antoine THORRY (1757-1827)
€3 000
REDOUTE, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) and Claude Antoine THORY (1759-1827)
REDOUTE, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) and Claude Antoine THORY (1759-1827)
£20 000
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840)
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840)
£50 000
Pierre Joseph Redouté, Art des
Pierre Joseph Redouté, Art des
€600
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) and Claude Antoine THORY (1759-1827)
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) and Claude Antoine THORY (1759-1827)
£60 000
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) et Augustin Pyramus de CANDOLLE (1778-1841)
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840) et Augustin Pyramus de CANDOLLE (1778-1841)
€8 000
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840).
REDOUTÉ, Pierre-Joseph (1759-1840).
£300 000
VENTENAT, Étienne-Pierre (1757-1808) – Pierre Joseph REDOUTE (1759-1840)
VENTENAT, Étienne-Pierre (1757-1808) – Pierre Joseph REDOUTE (1759-1840)
£60 000

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>