Buchoz - 10 Botanical Engravings

Buchoz - 10 Botanical Engravings
This beautiful, originally hand-colored engraving is from the composite collection of Pierre Joseph Buchoz, Collection précieuse et enluminée des fleurs les plus belles et les plus curieuses qui se cultivent dans les jardins de la Chine que ceux de l’Europe... [et] Première centurie de planches enluminées et non enluminées.... The work was published in Paris by chez Lacombe between 1776 and 1782 as well as Amsterdam by chez Rey between 1775 and 1779.

Pierre-Joseph Buchoz (1731-1807) was a French physician, lawyer, and naturalist. He was highly interested in Chinese culture and followed after Voltaire introducing 'Chinoiserie' to the European audience. He was the first to produce a botanical work following this tradition. The engravings "have the decorative qualities which we have always associated with Far Eastern art." (Blunt and Stearn)

The engravings for Collection précieuse.. were completed by Jean Baptiste Desmoulins, Jean Charles Bacquoy, Jean Victor Dupin, Claude Mathieu Fessard, and others. Many of the botanical engravings are shown with insects, butterflies, or birds. The plants of China and Europe were illustrated in Buchoz's work.

The beautiful images in the work were drawn from flowers cultivated in gardens in China and Europe in the 18th century. Buchoz’s engravings are easily recognized by their strong detail and their visually appealing balanced composition. As stated by art historian Michael Sullivan, these engravings are “remarkable from the technical point of view” for the way in which “the engraver has not merely transmitted the line... but has managed to suggest, with the burin, the tone of Chinese watercolour. Only when we look carefully at these pictures do we realize that they are engraved and not drawn with the brush.”

The engravings for Premiere centurie.. include beautiful natural history illustrations of fish, birds, entomology, and more. The work "contains figures of the rarest and most remarkable, and most interesting phenomena of the three kingdoms of nature, each part being devoted to one of them." (Anker) The images were often after Jacques de Favanne and engraved by C. Baquoy.


Paper Size: ~ 10 3/4" by 15 1/4"


Paper Type or Special Features: Originally Hand-colored Engraving

The work is in very good to excellent condition. There may be a few minor imperfections or fox marks to be expected with age. Please review the image carefully for condition and contact us with any questions.