Our orchid art prints are inspired by vintage botanical illustrations from the period 1600 to 1920.
We make them with superb pigmented inks and heavyweight 300gsm German fine art paper made from 100% cotton and spring water.
Orchid collecting was so popular it was almost a mania in the 18th and 19th centuries. Fortunes were spent, gained and lost seeking rare specimens from remote areas of the tropics and new world, cultivating them and selling them. Popular species included Cypripedium, dendrobium, phaelaenopsis and cattleya but thousands of species were collected. Antique prints of orchid were made to document the species for science, but also made by commercial growers to advertise the orchids to customers. As so much money was involved in orchids, some of the best botanical artists of the period were employed to help make the prints, such as Sydenham Edwards.
