Cacao

Cacao TURPIN (Pierre-Jean François) and PANCKOUCKE (Ernestine) Copper engraving, circa 1820 Period coloring enhanced with gum arabic. Published by Panckoucke, Paris Sheet dimensions: 19.5 x 12 cm Subject dimensions: 15.7 x 8.8 cm Plate no. 83 and no. 83 bis presenting the cacao plant and beans, appearing in the botanical treatise and repertoire of plant iconography, "La Flore médicale." It contains the description of more than 350 medicinal plants and information on their virtues and medical uses. It is one of the most important herbals of the early 19th century, printed in colors. "La Flore médicale" is the flora of the Dictionary of Medical Sciences, a work in sixty volumes, published from 1812 to 1822 by the same publisher, Charles-Louis-Fleury Joseph Panckoucke. Very good condition, period coloring. Ernestine Panckoucke (1784-1860), wife of the publisher of the Flora, was a student of the great flower painter Gérard Van Spaendonck and especially of Pierre-Joseph Redouté. A flower painter with a predilection for watercolor, she exercises her talent here in botanical drawing. However, almost all the illustrations are by Pierre-Jean-François Turpin (1775-1840), a botanist and remarkable draftsman responsible for many botanical illustrations, including those of a Parisian Flora.