Tag Archives: Chelsea Physic Garden

A Legacy of Beauty

JOSEPH DALTON HOOKER: A LEGACY OF BEAUTY – From Halesworth to the Himalayas, Halesworth Gallery, Steeple End, Halesworth, Suffolk IP19 8LL, 1st– 19th July 2017

Sarcococca hookeriana var.digyna by Elaine Searle (Chelsea School of Botanical Art’s course director),
watercolour and graphite, 35cm high x 25cm wide.
Common plant name: Sweet box

This is a wonderful celebration of the 19th century botanist and explorer Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM GCSI CB PRS  who succeeded his father as Director of Kew Gardens. The works are by the pupils and alumni of the Chelsea School of Botanical Art. Their founder and director, Helen Allen said:  “We are delighted that the Halesworth Gallery has invited us to exhibit botanical paintings of plants relating to, and named after, Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker. We are also including other plant illustrations showing this traditional art.  This is a great opportunity for our School and its alumni, many of whom now earn their living through their painting.  We plan to show visitors the tools and the progression of creating a botanical painting, which traditionally combines art and science, through the work of present and past talented Chelsea School of Botanical Art students.”

Joseph Hooker, Director of Kew Gardens, London 1865.

“The list of plants named after Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker is extensive. Many of the species are no longer the same as they were when discovered by Hooker, some are very rare and protected. Therefore, in some cases, our artists have selected the current version to paint.  We will also be showing other botanical paintings and illustrations by our alumni.”

Echiveria x hookeri by Penny Price,
watercolour, 35cm high x 24cm wide.
Common plant name: Succulent

http://www.halesworthgallery.co.uk/

http://www.chelseaschoolofbotanicalart.co.uk/

Chelsea Porcelain

 Sir Hans Sloane’s Plants On Chelsea Porcelain – A Loan Exhibition, Stockspring Antiques, 114 Kensington Church St, London W8, 2nd – 16th June 2015

Corallodendron: A Chelsea plate with a wavy brown-edged rim, painted with a Corallodendron flower, leaves, floret, seed pod and seeds, and two butterflies. c. 1753-56 Mark: red anchor over 34, Diam: 24.5 cm Private Collection

Corallodendron:
A Chelsea plate with a wavy brown-edged rim, painted with a Corallodendron flower, leaves, floret, seed pod and seeds, and two butterflies.
c. 1753-56
Mark: red anchor over 34, Diam: 24.5 cm
Private Collection

This exhibition celebrates the physician and collector Sir Hans Sloane who was a great patron of the Chelsea Physic Garden. The garden was a great centre of botanical research at a time when ships returning to London from Asia, Africa and the New World were bringing many unknown plants back with them. Sloane, himself, collected plants and animals and studied botany.

Trew C. J., Plantae Selectae, dec. I, Tab. VIII;

Trew C. J., Plantae Selectae, dec. I, Tab. VIII;

The chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 was Philip Miller who in 1731 published the Gardener’s Dictionary and later Figures of Plants, which showed the new plants in illustrations by Georg Dionysius Ehret. Ehret was the botanical artist of the time and had also provided illustrations for other books, including Plantae Selectae by Trew and Phytanthoza Iconographia by Weinmann.

Dodecatheon meadia: A plate with a wavy brown-edged rim, painted with a Dodecatheon Meadia, two seed heads, an immature seed head and three flying insects. c. 1755-57 Mark: red anchor, Diam: 21.6 cm Private Collection

Dodecatheon meadia:
A plate with a wavy brown-edged rim, painted with a Dodecatheon Meadia, two seed heads, an immature seed head and three flying insects.
c. 1755-57
Mark: red anchor, Diam: 21.6 cm
Private Collection

These and other published works were the source for the wonderful botanical decoration found on Chelsea porcelain in the 1750s and which are known as Sir Hans Sloane plants. This special exhibition, thanks to the loans from museums and private collections, brings together over seventy pieces of Chelsea porcelain which are shown alongside images of their source engravings.

 

Trew C. J., Plantae Selectae, dec. I, Tab. XII;

Trew C. J., Plantae Selectae, dec. I, Tab. XII;

The exhibition is accompanied by a highly detailed hardback catalogue (£30 + postage) by Sally Kevill-Davies and is the fruit of her research into identifying the plants found on Chelsea porcelain. Thanks are due to the Cadogan Estate for their sponsorship of it.

 

Opening Times:

Weekdays: 10 -5.30pm, Saturdays: 10 – 4pm. Sundays: Closed.

 

 

http://www.antique-porcelain.co.uk