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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(ORCHIDS.) Miner, Harriet Stuart. Oncidium Papilio (Butterfly Orchid); and Dendrobium Macrophyllum Gigantum (Dendrobium Superbum). Together two fine watercolor drawings on heavy paper. Approximately 13 1/2x10 1/2 inches each sheet size; each captioned and monogrammed H.S.M. in ink; faint toning to extremities, minor isolated spots of foxing, colors vibrant and unfaded. [American, circa 1880's]
Harriet S. Miner illustrated the first American color plate book devoted to this unusual and well-loved variety of flower: Orchids The Royal Family of Plants was published in Boston in 1885 and comprised 24 folio plates chromolithographed after her paintings. Miner's book is regarded as "the ranking work on the subject and very striking" (Bennett). The present original watercolors are lovely examples of her unpublished and previously unseen work, displaying each subject in an elegantly finished and attractive composition. Bennett, American Nineteenth Century Color Plate Books 78.
