Estate Find

Eighteenth Century

Duhamel du Monceau

French

Peach

Engraving

“Veritable Pourpre'e Hative"

We offer a twentieth century restrike engraving of an eighteenth century peach engraving titled “Veritable Pourpre'e Hative" The original engraving was published in "Traité des Arbres Fruitiers" compiled by Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau in 1768 in Paris. The engraving was drawn by Abbé le Berriays and engraved by L.A. Herisset.

A restrike engraving is printed from the original copperplate on woven paper and hand coloured.

The peach engraving is framed in a gilt wooden frame and matted in forest green outlined in gold. The engraving was framed in 1992 by Evelyn Lee of Lee-Cunningham, a noted Texas interior design firm.

The frame measures 19 1/8" in width and 23 1/8" in height. The image measures 12 3/8" in width and 16" in height. The plate measures 9 1/2" in width and 11 3/8" in height.

The decorative peach engraving is presented in very good vintage condition.

Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau,

France (1700-1782)

Henri Louis Duhamel du Monceau was one of the most important French writers on fruit, plant physiology and agriculture, in this field he was one of the outstanding botanists of the eighteenth century and Traité des Arbres Fruitiers is among the finest of fruit books. The first volume begins by describing and illustrating different methods of pruning and grafting. This brief but concise description of techniques encouraged propagation of fruit trees throughout France. His intention was to promote the virtue and nutritional value of fruit-bearing trees. Sixteen different genera of fruit and a number of their different species are described in the work – almonds, apricots, a barberry, cherries, quinces, figs, strawberries, gooseberries, apples, medlars, a mulberry, pears, peaches, plums, grapes and a raspberry. Each plate illustrated the plant’s seed, foliage, blossom, fruit, and sometimes cross sections of the specimen. As pears were Duhamel’s favorite fruit, they constitute the largest percentage of the two volumes.

The book was first published in Paris in 1768 and contained one hundred and eighty black & white engravings. The engravings were hand-colored after printing, in great detail and featuring a full spectrum of colors. The publication “proved of such importance that it was reissued between 1808 and 1835 after having been enlarged to four hundred and twenty two excellent plates” (Dunthorne, pg.53).

Accompanying the text was the artwork of Claude Aubriet (1665-1742) and Magdeleine Basseporte (1701-1780), and Abbé le Berriays (credited only by the initials “L.B.”) whom Duhamel hired to illustrate the 16 different fruit species and multiple cultivars. The engravers for the published work include Catherine and Elisabeth Haussard, L.A. Herisset, B.L. Hernriquez, Bréant, Fme. Tardieu, Ch. Milsan, Mesnil, Baron, P. L. Cor, Mênil, J. F. Poletnich, Benoist, and Fme. Dupuis.