![[ROXBURGH, William (1751-1815).] A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR DRAWINGS OF INDIAN FLOWERS AND PLANTS by unnamed local artists, thought to be executed for William Roxburgh, illustrating a total of 463 plants captioned in pencil, [Calcutta?, ca. 1812-14].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2012/CKS/2012_CKS_05334_0141_000(roxburgh_william_a_collection_of_original_watercolour_drawings_of_indi095216).jpg?w=1)
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[ROXBURGH, William (1751-1815).] A COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL WATERCOLOUR DRAWINGS OF INDIAN FLOWERS AND PLANTS by unnamed local artists, thought to be executed for William Roxburgh, illustrating a total of 463 plants captioned in pencil, [Calcutta?, ca. 1812-14].
2 volumes, 8° (237 x 167mm). (A few short tears and chips to edges, a few old tape repairs on versos, some occasional spotting and light browning, some worming to last 60 watercolours.)
Roxburgh described some 2,600 species of plants between 1793 and 1813 while he was superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. Though his descriptions were published posthumously in the Flora Indica (see below), this work was unillustrated, and in total only 700, a small percentage of the many drawings done for him, were actually published, appearing in his Plants of the Coast of Coromandel and also in Robert Wight's Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis. The present group of unpublished watercolours were drawn by local Indian artists and are highly likely to have been commissioned by Roxburgh. Other sets of unpublished drawings executed by Indian artists exist, most in folio format. The most complete are those in the Calcutta Botanic Garden and a duplicate set sent to the East India Company, now at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
[With:] -- Flora Indica; or, Descriptions of Indian Plants. Serampore: Printed for W. Thacker & Co. and Parbury, Allen and Co., 1832. 3 volumes, 8° (207 x 130mm). FIRST EDITION. Stafleu & Cowan 9725.
All five volumes recently bound in near uniform green morocco incorporating older straight-grained morocco sides, spines elaborately tooled in gilt. Provenance: Massachusetts Horticultural Society (small stamp on each watercolour; sold, Christie's New York, 18 December 2002, lot 109). (5)
2 volumes, 8° (237 x 167mm). (A few short tears and chips to edges, a few old tape repairs on versos, some occasional spotting and light browning, some worming to last 60 watercolours.)
Roxburgh described some 2,600 species of plants between 1793 and 1813 while he was superintendent of the Calcutta Botanic Garden. Though his descriptions were published posthumously in the Flora Indica (see below), this work was unillustrated, and in total only 700, a small percentage of the many drawings done for him, were actually published, appearing in his Plants of the Coast of Coromandel and also in Robert Wight's Icones plantarum Indiae Orientalis. The present group of unpublished watercolours were drawn by local Indian artists and are highly likely to have been commissioned by Roxburgh. Other sets of unpublished drawings executed by Indian artists exist, most in folio format. The most complete are those in the Calcutta Botanic Garden and a duplicate set sent to the East India Company, now at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
[With:] -- Flora Indica; or, Descriptions of Indian Plants. Serampore: Printed for W. Thacker & Co. and Parbury, Allen and Co., 1832. 3 volumes, 8° (207 x 130mm). FIRST EDITION. Stafleu & Cowan 9725.
All five volumes recently bound in near uniform green morocco incorporating older straight-grained morocco sides, spines elaborately tooled in gilt. Provenance: Massachusetts Horticultural Society (small stamp on each watercolour; sold, Christie's New York, 18 December 2002, lot 109). (5)
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