Pl. CCXVIII: Rheum foliis cordatis ... (after Robert Lancake)

 

John Miller

  1715 - 1792 (biography)

1758  

hand-colored engraving 

13 1/4 x 8 3/4" platemark 

engraved beneath image, lower right 

 

painter's name engraved in lower right "R Lancake delin"; titled in the image, lower right; publisher's information engraved below the image, center 

 

ivory, antique laid 

as published 

Phillip Miller, London, "Published according to Act of Parliament" engraved beside name 

9583 

$125.00 

Rheum foliis cordatis glabris, marginibus sinuatis, spicis divisis, is plate CCXVIII from Figures of the Most Beautiful, Useful, and Uncommon Plants described in the Gardener's Dictionary. The folio of 300 engraved plates was a follow-up to the major botanical tome, The Gardener's Dictionary, written by Phillip Miller (1691-1771), London's chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden and a member of the Botanic Academy of Florence.

The original publication, written by Philip in 1731, was sparsley illustrated. Between 1755 and 1760 a two-volume folio of 300 hand-colored engravings was commissioned by an Act of Parliament, each detailing a particular plant's physical traits. Several artists were involved, including John Miller (born Johann Sebastian Müller, Germany) who recreated the drawings of Richard Lancake (fluent ca. 1755-1760) for the folio.

Rheum foliis cordatis glabris

refers to the rhubarb plant, rheum rhabarbarum, which is native to Asia's coldest climates, including Siberia. While now common in Britain and North America, when this engraving was created the plant was barely seen outside of its traditional lands. The Gardener's Dictionary included several instances of plants from throughout the globe.