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Butterfly Life Cycle on Flowering Plant, Albin Hand-Colored Engraving, ca.1720
€310 ($350, £265, €310)
Period original, not a reproduction.
Shipped from the Netherlands, flat, insured and tracked, worldwide. Returns accepted within 14 days.
- Date
- 1720
- Size
- 11.1 × 8.7 in (28.3 × 22.1 cm)
- Condition
- Good. Good condition for an early 18th-century engraving. Light age toning to the paper, minor spotting, and soft handling wear at the margins. Plate mark visible. Colors remain clear and well preserved.
- Period
- 18th century
- Section
- Insects and butterflies
- Reference
- f_48446742
A butterfly and its host plant from A Natural History of English Insects by Eleazar Albin, an original copper engraving published in London in 1720 with period hand color. The plate number 51 is engraved in the upper right corner.
The plate follows the insect through its life cycle on the plant. A blue-green caterpillar (lettered a) feeds on a large leaf already eaten through with holes, a small chrysalis (b) lies below the stem, and four adult butterflies (c, d, e and f) are shown in different positions around the plant, which is drawn with a spray of pink flowers, seed pods and serrated leaves. Albin was among the first English naturalists to show insects on the plants they fed on, rather than as isolated specimens.
The engraved dedication at the foot reads "To William Byrd of Westover in Virginia Esqr. this Plate is humbly Dedicated by Elea[zar] Albin." William Byrd II was a Virginia planter, colonial official and writer, and the dedication links this English natural history plate to colonial Virginia. The subject itself is English, so the Virginia connection lies in the dedicatee alone.
