{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O88258"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88258/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL1399/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EL1399/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EL1399","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AG2246","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O88258/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O88258","accessionNumber":"D.589-1886","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"American Turk's-cap lily (Lilium superbum)","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Ehret was one of the greatest botanical illustrators working in the 18th century. He supplied illustrations for a number of important botanical publications. He was also closely involved in publicising and promoting the binomial system of plant classification that was devised by the Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus.\r\n\r\nEhret painted this plant study in the 1740s, at the height of his mature style. We do not know the precise date, but a near identical version is dated 1745. In the text Ehret notes that ‘this lily first flowered in August 1738’, in the garden of Peter Collinson. Collinson was an avid collector of new plants, and lived just outside London. Ehret often studied plants in his collection. Dr C. J. Trew reproduced a version of this picture in his book <i>Plantae Selectae</i>, which he published in Nuremberg between 1750 and 1773.","physicalDescription":"Watercolour drawing","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Ehret, Georg Dionysus","id":"A7560"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"watercolour (paint)","id":"AAT15045"},{"text":"bodycolour","id":"x34671"},{"text":"vellum (paper)","id":"AAT250699"}],"techniques":[{"text":"watercolour drawing","id":"x37878"},{"text":"drawing (image-making)","id":"AAT54196"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour and bodycolour on vellum","categories":[{"text":"Illustration","id":"THES48938"},{"text":"Gardens & Gardening","id":"THES49002"},{"text":"Science","id":"THES48898"},{"text":"Botanical art","id":"THES277744"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2010EL1399","2006AG2246"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLF (VA)","id":"THES49656"},"free":"","case":"TOPIC","shelf":"DP2","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1740s","earliest":"1740-01-01","latest":"1749-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[{"object":{"text":"E.916-1924","id":"O766615"},"association":"Reproduction"}],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"53.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"37","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Watercolour by G.D. Ehret depicting Turk's-cap lily, 1740s","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Picturing Plants: an analytical history of botanical illustration'; Gill Saunders; Zwemmer in association with the Victoria and Albert Museum; 1995; no. 60; page 87"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"'Picturing Plants: an analytical history of botanical illustration'; Gill Saunders; KWS Publishers; 2009; no. 60; page 87"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"flowers","id":"x35571"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Georg Dionysius Ehret 1708-70\r\nAmerican Turk's-cap Lily ('Lilium superbum')\r\n1740s\r\n\r\nThe Linnaean system depended on the flower and an enumeration of the stamens and pistils. Ehret has thus chosen to show only the flower-spike, ignoring the rest of the plant. He has painted it in almost 'trompe l'oeil' detail, from every angle, in bud and in full bloom. It is thus possible to classify the lily from the illustration alone.\r\n\r\nProbably London\r\nWatercolour and bodycolour on vellum\r\nV&A: D.589-1886","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["D.589-1886"],"accessionNumberNum":"589","accessionNumberPrefix":"D","accessionYear":1886,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-30","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-23","availableToBook":false}}