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Lot Essay
Admiral van Hoorn was one of the most prized varieties of bulbs during the Dutch tulip mania which began in the early years of the 17th Century and reached its height in 1634-1637. At the height of the boom, Hendrik Gerritsz. Pots's satirical painting Floraes Mallewagen (1637) showed the goddess Flora enthroned on a cart with florists dressed as fools, pursued by Haarlem weavers and carrying a bouquet of the most prized blooms: Semper Augustus, General Bol and Admiral van Hoorn (Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem).
The 'asen' was a unit that was used specifically to weigh and measure tulips: it was the equivalent of one twentieth of a gram. The bulb in the present drawing weighed 1,000 asen and was consequently valued at 805 florins. At the height of the mania, Admiral van Hoorn bulbs could make as much as 6,000 florins; when the crash happened, in spring 1637, the prices rapidly fell to around 400 or 500 florins.
The 'asen' was a unit that was used specifically to weigh and measure tulips: it was the equivalent of one twentieth of a gram. The bulb in the present drawing weighed 1,000 asen and was consequently valued at 805 florins. At the height of the mania, Admiral van Hoorn bulbs could make as much as 6,000 florins; when the crash happened, in spring 1637, the prices rapidly fell to around 400 or 500 florins.