Cheffins
Lot 476
Priscilla Susan Bury (nee Falkner) (British, 1799-1872) Two botanical studies as reproduced by Robert Havell Jr. in 'A Selection of Hexandrian Plants'. Amaryllis Crocata with Papilio Nestor Brazil, inscribed on the stem bottom centre '1826. PS Falkner', this same subject was reproduced as plate 16 in 'A Selection of Hexandrian Plants', papermaker's blind stamp to the corner, 55.2 x 43.7 cm; Lilium Bulbiferum, inscribed below the title 'Fairfield 6th June 1825' and initialed 'PSF' at the bottom of the stem, 43.6 x 31.2 cm. watercolour (2) Provenance: Private Collection, Hertfordshire Other Notes: Priscilla Susan Bury (1799-1872) was a self-taught botanical artist, especially known for her vividly coloured illustrations of plants. Her watercolours were notably engraved for 'A Selection of Hexandrian Plants', one of the finest botanical colour-plate publications of its period. Born as Priscilla Susan Falkner to a wealthy Liverpool merchant, she lived at her family estate in Fairfield, two miles east of Liverpool, until her marriage to Edward Bury (1794-1858), a railway engineer, in 1830. She was enchanted by the exotic and rare plants cultivated in the greenhouses of her family home and thus developed a great passion for botany at an early age. She took up drawing and painting flowers at Fairfield and by 1829 amassed a great collection of botanical studies, mostly bearing her maiden name. Upon the suggestion of the amateur botanist William Roscoe (1753-1831) and the zoologist William J. Swainson (1789-1855), fifty-one of Bury's watercolours were published as 'A Selection of Hexandrian Plants' between 1831-1834. The studies were engraved and printed in aquatint by Robert Havell Jr. (1793-1878), rivalling the greatest botanical illustrations of the time. The publication had seventy-nine subscribers, among whom were many prominent Liverpool residents as well as the American naturalist, John James Audubon (1785-1851). Some of the original watercolours are preserved at Dumbarton Oaks, Washington, and at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Amaryllis - unframed - some discolouration to the paper, some staining around the stem and leaf, two vertical folds along the side edges. Lilium - unframed - some foxing, mostly limited to the reverse, slightly trimmed on the left side
![Priscilla Susan Bury (nee Falkner) British (1799-1872) Crinum Pedunculatum with Papilio Antenor [The spotted black Butterfly]](https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/66f9975d-2b01-4d81-98ea-a5b7009bb965/cda51007-b09b-4a78-944e-9c3c67f8adf5/468x382.jpg)
