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Lot Essay
This volume, bound in the original 17th Century vellum, was attributed to Pieter Holsteijn II by Dr Sam Segal in 1985 based on a comparison to Holsteijn's Flores a Petro Holsteyn ad vivum depicti. That book, containing 122 gouache illustrations all bearing the artist's monogram 'PH.fe', is conserved in the Lindley Library of the Royal Horticultural Society, London. While the present volume is not signed, the technique and handling are identical and the names and the numbering of the flowers in both volumes are inscribed in the same hand.
In 1942 Krelage records 26 similar tulip books, eight of which, in addition to the present volume, were in his own collection, and one of which he later dispersed, E.H. Krelage, loc. cit.. At that time very few of the artists who worked in the genre could be identified with any certainty. The only two hands securely recognised were those of Jacob Marrell and Judith Leyster. To this list can now be added not only Pieter Holsteijn II, but Anthony Claesz. and Pieter Withoos (see lot 700), S. Segal, Tulips Portrayed: The tulip trade in Holland in the 17th Century, exhib. cat., Museum voor de Bloembollenstreek, Amsterdam, 1992.
The purpose of such precisely detailed records of tulip varieties can be traced to the Dutch fascination, even obsession, with the flower. By the second quarter of the 17th Century tulips were among the most desirable and costly objects in Dutch society. Bulbs were initially seen as luxury collector items; the gardens in which they flourished often sporting a single bulb to a bed. In meeting this demand, it became apparent that tulips and what might be termed 'tulip futures' could be a lucrative investment. This can be illustrated by the soaring price of the rare Semper Augustus variety, no. 35 of the Dreesmann album, originally grown by Dr Adriaen Pauw on his estate at Heemstede. In 1623 this was offered for 1,000 florins, but by 1625 it had increased to 3,000 florins. The price rose steadily to 5,500 florins in 1633 and peaked at 30,000 florins offered for three bulbs in 1637. This should be set against an average annual income for the period of 150 florins. Throughout the 1630's and 1640's the rampant speculation in the bulb trade, known as tulip windhandel, trading 'close to the wind', led to what historians later termed 'tulipmania'.
Tulip books were a direct development of this phenomenon. The albums often served as a form of sample book from which tulip merchants marketed their bulbs, an activity which of necessity they had to undertake out of season. This is seen most explicitly in another tulip book in Krelage's collection which was drawn specifically to advertise a bulb auction at Alkmaar in 1637, sold Christie's, Amsterdam, 13 November 1995, lot 185. Equally, they were often commissioned as vanity pieces by the wealthy owners, S. Segal, loc. cit..
The series of 42 tulip drawings have been identified by Segal as the work of Holsteijn, though the inserted single tulip study and the study of the iris may be by different hands. Even in the 17th Century, it was not unusual that such extra studies would be incorporated into a coherent commissioned work. So many of these tulip books were broken up and the studies sold off individually, usually in the later 18th Century. Dr. Segal was able to make his attribution to Holsteijn II not only from the single intact example in the Lindley Library, but also from several single studies signed with the same 'PH fe' monogram on the verso. Preserved in its original binding, the present lot is a fine and highly consistent example of the work of one of the more skilled and reknowned 17th Century draughtsmen to explore natural history. It is also one of the few remaining intact tulip books, and as such provides fascinating evidence of an extraordinary period in Dutch history.
Two drawings of tulips by Holsteijn, of the same size and technique and inscribed in the same hand, was formerly in the Jacobus A. Klaver Collection; Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 10 May 1994, lots 88-9. The first of these showed a yellow and red cultivar from Leyden ('geel en root van Leijden'), the same strain as no. 15 in the Dreesmann album.
In 1942 Krelage records 26 similar tulip books, eight of which, in addition to the present volume, were in his own collection, and one of which he later dispersed, E.H. Krelage, loc. cit.. At that time very few of the artists who worked in the genre could be identified with any certainty. The only two hands securely recognised were those of Jacob Marrell and Judith Leyster. To this list can now be added not only Pieter Holsteijn II, but Anthony Claesz. and Pieter Withoos (see lot 700), S. Segal, Tulips Portrayed: The tulip trade in Holland in the 17th Century, exhib. cat., Museum voor de Bloembollenstreek, Amsterdam, 1992.
The purpose of such precisely detailed records of tulip varieties can be traced to the Dutch fascination, even obsession, with the flower. By the second quarter of the 17th Century tulips were among the most desirable and costly objects in Dutch society. Bulbs were initially seen as luxury collector items; the gardens in which they flourished often sporting a single bulb to a bed. In meeting this demand, it became apparent that tulips and what might be termed 'tulip futures' could be a lucrative investment. This can be illustrated by the soaring price of the rare Semper Augustus variety, no. 35 of the Dreesmann album, originally grown by Dr Adriaen Pauw on his estate at Heemstede. In 1623 this was offered for 1,000 florins, but by 1625 it had increased to 3,000 florins. The price rose steadily to 5,500 florins in 1633 and peaked at 30,000 florins offered for three bulbs in 1637. This should be set against an average annual income for the period of 150 florins. Throughout the 1630's and 1640's the rampant speculation in the bulb trade, known as tulip windhandel, trading 'close to the wind', led to what historians later termed 'tulipmania'.
Tulip books were a direct development of this phenomenon. The albums often served as a form of sample book from which tulip merchants marketed their bulbs, an activity which of necessity they had to undertake out of season. This is seen most explicitly in another tulip book in Krelage's collection which was drawn specifically to advertise a bulb auction at Alkmaar in 1637, sold Christie's, Amsterdam, 13 November 1995, lot 185. Equally, they were often commissioned as vanity pieces by the wealthy owners, S. Segal, loc. cit..
The series of 42 tulip drawings have been identified by Segal as the work of Holsteijn, though the inserted single tulip study and the study of the iris may be by different hands. Even in the 17th Century, it was not unusual that such extra studies would be incorporated into a coherent commissioned work. So many of these tulip books were broken up and the studies sold off individually, usually in the later 18th Century. Dr. Segal was able to make his attribution to Holsteijn II not only from the single intact example in the Lindley Library, but also from several single studies signed with the same 'PH fe' monogram on the verso. Preserved in its original binding, the present lot is a fine and highly consistent example of the work of one of the more skilled and reknowned 17th Century draughtsmen to explore natural history. It is also one of the few remaining intact tulip books, and as such provides fascinating evidence of an extraordinary period in Dutch history.
Two drawings of tulips by Holsteijn, of the same size and technique and inscribed in the same hand, was formerly in the Jacobus A. Klaver Collection; Sotheby's, Amsterdam, 10 May 1994, lots 88-9. The first of these showed a yellow and red cultivar from Leyden ('geel en root van Leijden'), the same strain as no. 15 in the Dreesmann album.