The right page of a book, showing an illustration of two types of carnation flowers in muted yellows, oranges, pinks, and greens on creamy paper. At center are two similar flowers with long stems and leaves, crossed over each other. The small, frilled flowers bloom in a cluster. The left flowers are pale yellow, the right are pinkish-orange with pale yellow. Nestled just above the cross of the stems is 'Fig. 1' in elegant script, referring to a caption below. To the left of the flowers is another carnation, labelled 'Fig. 2' at lower left, with two medium-sized dark pink flowers atop a slender green stem. The left flower is seen from the side; the right is a view into the flower, with layers of frilled petals. To the right of the crossed flowers, at the middle of the page, is a cutaway diagram of parts of the flower. The captions below read 'Fig. 1 CARYOPHYLLUS' and 'Fig. 2 CARYOPHYLLUS' with further slanting script possibly indicating the scientific names and publishing information. The page is labelled 'Pl. LXXXI' in the upper right corner.

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Figures Of The Most Beautiful, Useful, And Uncommon Plants , Book

This is a Figures of the Most Beautiful, Useful, and Uncommon Plants .

This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Smithsonian Libraries and Archives as part of Botanical Expressions.

It is dated 1755. Its medium is hand-colored or color-printed and hand-finished, etched and engraved plates. It is a part of the department.

The Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory, established in London in 1745, was a short
walk from the Chelsea Physic Garden, where the firm’s painters had access
to an abundance of plants for in-person study. This book Figures of the Most
Beautiful… contains drawings of more than 300 specimens of plants from the
Chelsea Physic Garden, which were referenced for the decoration on these ten
plates. While fashionable in subject matter and style, flowers, insects, and leaves
also played a practical role to disguise flaws and imperfections in the plates’
delicate porcelain and glaze

It is credited Gift of John Donnell Smith, Smithsonian Libraries, QK9 .M64f 1760.