Van Houtte — Pair of Carnivorous Pitcher Plant c.1850
Van Houtte — Pair of Carnivorous Pitcher Plant c.1850
A matched pair of Van Houtte chromolithographs depicting Nepenthes pitcher plants — the carnivorous plants whose exotic beauty captivated Victorian collectors and whose subject matter remains one of the most commercially desirable niches in botanical art today.
Why Buy as a Pair
Carnivorous plant prints have a dedicated contemporary collector base — millennial plant enthusiasts, interior designers focused on botanical maximalism, and collectors of Victorian scientific exotica all prize these subjects. A matched pair maximizes decorative impact and signals the authenticity of hand-finished Ghent-origin chromolithography.
About Louis Van Houtte (1810–1876)
Louis Van Houtte was a Belgian horticulturist, plant collector, and publisher based in Ghent. He was one of the 19th century's most influential figures in commercial horticulture, introducing thousands of new plant species to European gardens and nurseries through his illustrated periodical publications and his Ghent nursery, which supplied plants to royalty and major botanical gardens across Europe.
About the Work
Flore des Serres et des Jardins de l'Europe was published by Van Houtte from 1845 to 1880 in 23 volumes containing over 2,400 hand-finished chromolithographs. The publication documented exotic and newly introduced plants — including the Victorian carnivorous-plant craze of the 1840s and 1850s — with lithographs from the Ghent firm distinguished by their rich coloring, botanical accuracy, and decorative composition.
Scarcity & Market Context
Complete Flore des Serres sets sell for $10,000–$25,000 at auction when they appear. Individual plates are available from specialist dealers, but carnivorous plant subjects (pitcher plants, sundews, Venus flytraps) are particularly prized by both plant collectors and interior designers, often commanding 2–3× the price of standard botanical subjects. Matched pairs are scarce in the marketplace.
Institutional Holdings
Institutional holdings at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the New York Botanical Garden, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Dimensions
Each sheet approximately 10 × 7 inches
Frame: This piece ships unframed — the sheet or plate only. We can recommend framers in your area or ship to your preferred framer. Professional framing with archival materials typically runs $150–$400 depending on size and finish.
Shipping Terms
Shipping costs vary by product, packaging requirements, destination, carrier, and insurance value. We do not use flat-rate shipping because antique prints, maps, paintings, and books each require different packing — some ship flat between archival boards, some ship rolled, some require custom-built crates with shock absorption, and framed pieces need extra protection for glass and corners.
How our shipping process works:
- You place your order (shipping is calculated as $0 at checkout)
- We prepare a custom shipping quote for your destination — typically within 24 hours
- We contact you to confirm carrier options (USPS, UPS, FedEx, DHL), insurance value, and delivery timeline
- Once you approve the shipping quote, we send a separate invoice for shipping
- We pack with archival-grade materials and insure at full value
Questions on shipping before you buy? Contact us with your zip code (or international address) and we'll provide a quote before you commit to purchase.
Important Buyer Notice
These pieces are antique originals, ranging from approximately 100 to over 400 years old. Each piece will show varying degrees of age-appropriate condition: paper toning, foxing, edge wear, fold marks, minor restoration, light staining, and other natural signs of age are common and expected for works of this period. Condition varies from piece to piece.
It is the buyer's responsibility to confirm that the piece is in the condition they require before purchase. We are always happy to answer any questions about the state of the work, provide additional photographs of specific areas, describe any flaws or repairs in detail, or arrange a video review before you buy. Please contact us at any time with questions — we believe an informed buyer is the best customer.
All pieces are guaranteed authentic originals (not reproductions, facsimiles, or modern prints). We offer a full refund if authenticity is ever disputed by a qualified third party.