Peonies, turban ranunculus and tulip, Alexander Marshal, c. 1650-82

A page of watercolours of four flowers including a tulip with two of its petals fallen on the ground, two peonies - one pink and the other deep red and a striped ranunculus. Peonies have been known in england since at least the tenth century, and may be native. In 1629 john parkinson remarked that they were valued ‘for the beauty and delight of their goodly flowers, as well as for their physicall vertues [i. E. Their medicinal properties]’. Marshal often recorded imperfect specimens, and here two dropped petals from the overblown tulip appear to lie on the lower left. Provenance: presented to george iv. Date: c. 1650-82. Dimensions: 46.0 x 33.2 cm (sheet of paper). Medium: watercolour. Peonies, turban ranunculus and tulip (RCIN 924340-2)