Block Bernarda Tulips by Jakob Marrel 8.25" Plates MMOA Portugal~Set of THREE - $30 - (Suffield, CT)
Block Bernarda Pottery Jakob Marrel "Tulips" 8.25 Diameter PlatesSet of THREE Three Fine 8.25" Diameter Plates by Block Bernarda for the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art. The plates depict two different tulip cultivars (Grote geplumaceerde, Voorwint), with a little grasshopper and beautifully rendered to record the prized bloom. From an original painting on vellum out of one of several watercolor albums or Tulpenboeken made by the Dutch still-life painter, print- and tulip dealer Jakob Marrel (1613–1681). Married to the widow of the German engraver Matthäus Merian, Marrel was stepfather and teacher of the well-known botanist-artist Maria Sibylla Merian. In addition to flower paintings, Marrel created at least six tulip books, three of which remain intact. Executed while he worked in Utrecht during the late 1630s and early 1640s, his tulip books coincide with the period when the Dutch developed a true passion for the tulip. Known as Tulipomania, the rage for this flower, especially in its variegated or multistriped form, resulted in wild speculation, ending in 1637 with the crash of the bulb commodity market. Still considered Holland's "national flower," the tulip actually was imported in the 1580s from Turkey, where it had been cultivated by the Ottomans from the beginning of the sixteenth century onward. It was the famous, widely traveled Flemish botanist Carolus Clusius (1526–1609), who, as supervisor of the Leiden Botanical Garden, was instrumental in furthering the introduction of the tulip and other exotic bulbs from West Asia, laying the foundation for Holland's modern-day global bulb industry. Made in Portugal. Bottom reads: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Block Bernarda, Portugal. Dimensions: 8.25 in. Diameter x 1” HWeight Set, unpacked: 2 lbs., 7 oz. Condition: Very good. No chips, cracks, hairlines. Plates present with some glaze crazing on top.
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From ebay.com - 1 month ago