Flowering Feverfew Plants: A 17th C. Besler Hand-Colored Botanical Engraving, 1640

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This is a hand-colored copper plate engraving entitled "Matricaria Flore Simplici, Matricaria Flore Pleno, depicting flowering Feverfew and Double-flowered Feverfew … Read more This is a hand-colored copper plate engraving entitled "Matricaria Flore Simplici, Matricaria Flore Pleno, depicting flowering Feverfew and Double-flowered Feverfew plants, from Basilius Besler's landmark work, Hortus Eystettensis (Garden at Eichstatt), first published in 1613 in Eichstatt, Germany near Nuremberg and later in 1640 and 1713. The feverfew plant is also known as featherfew, featherfoil, or bachelor’s buttons. It has been used to treat various ailments, including headache, arthritis, and fever.

This beautiful colorful engraving is printed on thin laid chain-linked paper. The right upper corner is mildly blunted. There is a subtle crease in the left upper corner, very common with Besler's relating to the drying of the paper during its production. The print is otherwise in excellent condition with beautiful hand-coloring.

Basilius Besler (1561–1629) was an apothecary and botanist. He was curator of the Willibaldsburg Castle garden of Johann Konrad von Gemmingen, prince bishop of Eichstätt, in Bavaria, who supported Besler's academic and artistic creation and whose funds allowed the purchase of exotic plants from all over Europe. Besler spent 16 years producing drawings of 1084 varieties of plants and flowers in different seasons. These were then engraved on copper plates by master artists, resulting in the 367 beautiful and detailed engravings which comprise Besler's monumental florilegium Hortus Eystettensis, the first large-scale botanical publication. See less