Ananas folio vix ferrato. by PINEAPPLE) Trew, Christopher Jacob and Benedict ChristianVogel. Ehret, Georg Dionysius (illus). Engraved by Johann Jacob Haid - 1750-1773.

1750-1773.. Engraving, hand-colored, plate area approximately 17 1/2 x 11 1/2 on sheet size 19 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches. Two spots (each approximately 1/4 inch diameter) in lower image area, small abraded area just inside the plate mark at right of image; some faint spots and a couple of short mended edge tears (all outside plate area), very soft crease at lower right of image. An exceptional antique botanical print depicting a pineapple plant by one of the finest botanical artists of all time, Georg Dionysus Ehret, engraved by Johann Jacob Haid and published in PLANTAE SELECTAE by Christopher Jacob Trew and Benedict Christian Vogel (plate III). This remarkable work, published over the period 1750 to 1773, scientifically documents and artistically celebrates exotic plants in the collection of the Chelsea Physic Garden in London and other collectors at a time when the collection, cultivation and documentation of exotic flowers was popular among the upper strata of European society. Ehret trained as a gardener, but his talent as a botanical artist was noted and put to work by wealthy patrons including the physician and botanist Dr. Trew. (Nissen 1997; Great Flower Books, p.78; Dunthorne 309). .