{"id":44457,"date":"2025-07-08T11:02:40","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/?post_type=product&p=44457"},"modified":"2025-07-08T11:02:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T15:02:40","slug":"botanical-art-furber-12-months-of-flowers-set-of-12-antique-prints-london-1730","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/product\/botanical-art-furber-12-months-of-flowers-set-of-12-antique-prints-london-1730\/","title":{"rendered":"Botanical, Art, Furber, 12 Months of Flowers, Set of 12 Antique Prints, London, 1730"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Twelve Months of Flowers<\/strong> was first published by Robert Furber in 1730, having twelve plates — one for each month of the year — engraved by Henry Fletcher after Pieter Casteels III (1684-1749). Casteels was\u00a0 one of the greatest bird and flower painters from the golden era of Dutch natural history illustration which was marked by significant advancements in both science and art, with a particular focus on detailed and realistic depictions of the natural world.\u00a0Furber was a plant nurseryman from Kensington, then a district on the outskirts of London. He was a member of the English Society of Gardeners, a trade organization established in 1724 to protect the reputations of plant growers by mutually agreeing to names for newly discovered species. Accordingly, Furber published The Twelve Months of Flowers, <\/strong>together with a companion work in 1732 — The Twelve Months of Fruit —<\/strong> to provide a common nomenclature for plants to protect against the misrepresentation of plants sold to their clients. The elegantly arranged bouquets depicted in the prints were intended to attract customers to purchase seeds to grow the specimens shown. The prints were issued by special subscription. Follow-up similar editions of The Twelve Months of Flowers<\/strong> by various British publishers were issued in the 18th<\/sup> century such as The Flower Garden Displayed<\/strong>, published in 1732 as an octavo book to reach a wider audience. A slightly reduced size edition of The Twelve Months of Flower<\/strong>s was published in about 1770\u00a0 in London by Robert Sayer and John King, as re engraved by R. Sheppard. Collectively, the 18th Century editions of The Twelve Months of Flowers<\/strong> remain as important historical documents of flower species grown in 18th century English gardens.<\/p>\n

Although The Twelve Months of Flowers<\/strong> was published in England, it also was subscribed to by Americans. Thus,\u00a0 this set of 12 prints would be a very appropriate addition today to the collections or decor of American historical houses. Indeed, Colonial Williamsburg famously discusses their example of this set relative to John Custis IV (1678-1749) of Virginia:<\/p>\n

[Custis] had not only had one of Williamsburg\u2019s most important gardens, but he also had one of the largest art collections in the city. His interests came together in 1730 when a Kensington nurseryman named Robert Furber (c. 1674 \u2013 1756) published twelve engravings of flowers that served as both decorative prints and seed catalogue. Each print features flowering plants in bloom for each month of the year, tastefully arranged in decorative urns. They were at the height of fashion and a must-have for anybody-who-was-anybody interested in gardening at the time John Custis ordered them from London.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

Custis saw himself as the one who had secured \u201cseverall\u201d Virginia customers for Furber, having informed fellow members of the Virginia gentry about the fashionable prints. At least one such lucky individual received the subscription sheet, according to the letter \u2060\u2014 Custis\u2019 friend, Thomas Lee of Stratford Hall in Westmorland County, Virginia, whose probate inventory at the time of his death listed: \u201c19 Flower pieces & old picturs\u201d in the \u201cGreen Room.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Condition: Generally very good with vibrant colors, recently professionally cleaned and deacdified to strengthen the paper overall, and to close various short tears, now with light remaining overall toning, wear, handling.<\/p>\n

References:<\/p>\n

Dunthorne, Gordon. Flower and Fruit Prints of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries, their History, Makers and Uses, with a Catalogue Raisonne of the Works in which they are Found. Washington, DC: author, 1938, reprinted by New York: Da Capo Press, 1970.<\/p>\n

“Furbers Flowers.” Colonial Williamsburg<\/em>. https:\/\/www.colonialwilliamsburg.org\/discover\/sources\/pieces-from-the-collection\/furbers-flowers\/. (July 8 2025).<\/p>\n

Maxted, Ian. “The London book trades 1775-1800, a preliminary checklist of members.” Exeter Working Papers in British Book Trade History. 2001. http:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/library\/locstudy\/bookhist\/lonb.html.<\/p>\n

Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia. An Oak Spring Flora: Flower Illustration from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Time: a selection of the rare books, manuscripts, and works of art in the collection of Rachel Lambert Mellon. Uppervill, VA.: New Haven, Oak Spring Garden Library, distributed by Yale University Press, 1997. pp.143-146.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pieter Casteels (1684-1749) (after)
\nHenry Fletcher (engraver)
\nTwelve Months of Flowers<\/strong>
\nRobert Furber, London: 1730
\nHand-colored engravings
\n15.75 x 12 inches platemark
\n18 x 13.75 inches overall
\n$21,600, set of 12 prints (12 prints @ $1,800 each sold only as a set)<\/p>\n

Extremely rare complete set of twelve 18th century botanical engravings published by Robert Furber of the flowers that bloom each month of the year. In each hand-colored print, the flowers are arranged in elaborate bouquets and placed in elegant urns in the classical taste, reflecting the grand manner of the Baroque period, Each print is titled with the name of the month of the cartouche in the lower margin, and\u00a0 has a key number printed next to each flower which corresponds to the name of the flower printed on either side of the cartouche. The set was intended as a horticultural guide to sell seeds of the various 400 species shown, organized by the month in which they flowered. Its commercial function was greatly enhanced if not overshadowed by the artistic quality of its illustrations distinguishing it from the more mundane floricultural seed catalogs of the period. Thus, ironically, even though it was created as a seed catalog, The Twelve Months of Flowers<\/strong> is often considered the most famous, beloved and sought after set of colorplate British botanical prints. Examples of compete sets of the original early 18th century edition like the one offered here are quite scarce.<\/p>\n

Product description continues below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":44475,"template":"","meta":{"wds_primary_product_brand":0,"wds_primary_product_cat":0,"footnotes":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[983,985,6790],"product_tag":[8920,195,7048,7056,10234,1512,10236,3133,10233,636,10235,459,10244,2387,10243],"class_list":{"0":"post-44457","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-natural-history-art","7":"product_cat-flower-compositions-floral-art","8":"product_cat-garden-room","9":"product_tag-12-months","10":"product_tag-18th-century","11":"product_tag-antique-print","12":"product_tag-botanical-print","13":"product_tag-casteels","14":"product_tag-engraving","15":"product_tag-floriculturalist","16":"product_tag-flower","17":"product_tag-furber","18":"product_tag-garden","19":"product_tag-horiculture","20":"product_tag-london","21":"product_tag-robert-furber","22":"product_tag-still-life","23":"product_tag-twelve-months-of-flowers","24":"post","25":"post-with-thumbnail","26":"post-with-thumbnail-large","28":"first","29":"instock","30":"purchasable","31":"product-type-simple"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/44457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/44457\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44515,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/44457\/revisions\/44515"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=44457"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=44457"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.georgeglazer.com\/wpmain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=44457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}