{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O618244"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O618244/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV7724/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV7724/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV7724","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O618244/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O618244","accessionNumber":"D.587-1886","objectType":"Drawing","titles":[{"title":"Christmas Rose","type":"popular title"},{"title":"Helleborus niger L.","type":"generic title"},{"title":"Winter Aconite","type":"popular title"},{"title":"Eranthis hyemalis (L.) Salisb.","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Initially, taxonomy or the classification of plants was haphazard and inconsistent. In the 17th century there gradually developed a new system, based on the physical similarities between the reproductive features of plants. Thus illustration, which in the herbal tradition had been simply a means of distinguishing one plant from another, now took on the role of analytic tool. It was used to record the detailed physical character of the plant and show the similarity of characteristics.\r\n\r\nEhret presents this subject as a growing plant rather than a cut or uprooted specimen. This mode of representation really belongs to the florilegia tradition, as does the unseasonal butterfly. 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Ehret. pinxt.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"ink","method":"handwriting","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Signature; date","note":"Signature; date; handwriting; ink, Lower right"},{"content":"HELLEBORUS niger, flore albo, etiam interdum valde rubente. F.B. / True Black Hellebore, or Christmas rose.","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Ink, lower centre"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Botanical study, Christmas rose (Helleborus niger L.) and Winter Aconite (Eranthis hyemalis (L.) Salisb.) by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1708-70); watercolour and bodycolour on vellum; ca 1745; London","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Picturing Plants: an analytical history of botanical illustration' by Gill Saunders; Zwemmer in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum; 1995; no. 59, page 86 (illus.)"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Picturing Plants: an analytical history of botanical illustration' by Gill Saunders; KWS Publishers in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum; 2009; second edition; no. 59, page 86 (illus)."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"butterfly","id":"x30161"},{"text":"Christmas rose","id":"x47031"},{"text":"Plant, Winter Aconite","id":"x37568"},{"text":"flower","id":"x43340"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Georg Dionysius Ehret 1708-70\r\nChristmas Rose and Winter Aconite\r\n(Helleborus niger L. and Eranthis hyemalis (L.) Salisb.)\r\nAbout 1745\r\n\r\nEhret presents this subject as a growing plant rather than a cut or uprooted specimen. This mode of representation really belongs to the florilegia tradition, as does the unseasonal butterfly. But his illustration also includes everything necessary for botanical analysis and identification, with flowers shown from several angles and at different stages of opening.\r\n\r\nLondon\r\nWatercolour and bodycolour on vellum\r\nV&A: D.587-1886","date":{"text":"2011","earliest":"2011-01-01","latest":"2011-12-31"}}],"partNumbers":["D.587-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"587","accessionNumberPrefix":"D","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-12","recordCreationDate":"2009-06-30","availableToBook":false}}