An Exquisite Original Watercolor of a Pleated Iris by Pierre-Joseph Redouté

Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759-1840)

Iris Plicata

European garden plant of unknown original

19 x 13 3/8 inches

Framed: 23 1/2 x 28 3/4 inches

Watercolor and gouache over pencil on vellum

Signed in brown ink lower left: P. J. Redouté

$475,000

Engraved for Les Liliacees (1802-1816) plate 356 

Provenance:

Acquired directly from the artist by the Empress Josephine de Beauharnais; thence by descent to Prince Eugene de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Bavaria; thence by descent in the family; by whom sold, (“Sale of the Library of Eugene de Beauharnais”), Zurich, Braus-Riggenbach and Ulricho Hoepli, May 23, 1935, lot 35; Erhard Weyhe, New York; Sotheby’s New York, Pierre-Joseph Redoute’s Lilacees, November 20, 1985, lot 356; Hirschl & Adler Galleries Inc., New York, 1988