Live Auction 21459Old Master and British Drawings and Watercolours
ITALIAN SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY
Lot 30

ITALIAN SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY

A bee orchid (Ophrys apifera Huds)

Closed4 July 2023

Price Realised

GBP 6,300

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ITALIAN SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY
A bee orchid (Ophrys apifera Huds)
inscribed ‘392’ (upper and lower centre); ‘Testicolo Apino’, ‘Testicolo Apino’ (lower left) and ‘orchis Apiformis flore Purpurascen[...]/ Purpurascente/ Spetie di Testicoli/ da cui virtu è inunaltro/ 929’ (lower right)
watercolour and bodycolour, watermark encircled fleur-de-lys, hills, with letter ‘M’
39.1 x 24.9 cm (15 3/8 x 9 3/4 in.)

Cassiano dal Pozzo (1588-1657), Rome; by descent to his brother,
Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo (1606-1689); by descent to his grandson, from whom acquired by
Pope Clement XI (1649-1721), Rome; from whom acquired by his nephew in 1714,
Cardinal Alessandro Albani (1692-1779), Rome; from whom acquired in 1762 by
King George III (1738-1820); since 1823 in the Royal Library, at Windsor Castle, until sold from the Dal Pozzo collection by the Royal Librarian, Sir John Fortescue (1859-1933) to
Jacob Mendelson (died 1970), London; where acquired in the late 1930s by
James R. Herbert Boone (1899-1983), New York; Sotheby’s, New York, 16-17 September 1988, lot 138.

Specialist note

See under lot 22.