Charles T. Scowen & Co. – Two Christmas Orchids, Sri Lanka, 1876–93 | Giclée Print

<p>Two blooms of Cattleya trianae, photographed against a ground so dark that the flowers seem to float in it. The petals are the whole subject: the frilled lip of the left flower with its dark throat, the twisted sepals, the thick leaf below. Nothing else is in the picture — no vase, no hand, no room.</p><p>The orchid is Colombian, and it flowers around Christmas; that is why it is called the Christmas orchid. This one was photographed in Ceylon, where Charles T. Scowen ran a commercial studio in the 1870s and 1880s, selling albums of views and plants to travellers. The species name is written straight into the negative at the foot of the print, and the studio credit sits in the lower left corner — both are printed, not added by us.</p><p><strong>What this is.</strong> A giclée reproduction printed with pigment inks from the Rijksmuseum’s own open-access photograph of the albumen print. It is not a photograph from the negative and is not sold as one.</p><p><strong>Scale</strong><br><em>Original: 27.9 × 22.1 cm — albumen print, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam</em></p><ul><li><strong>35 × 27 cm / 13.8 × 10.6 in</strong> — original size, 1:1. Image 27.90 × 22.03 cm.</li></ul><p>One size only. The museum file carries 338 dpi at original size and no more; anything larger would be an enlargement of thirteen per cent, which is not worth a second sheet.</p><p><strong>The print</strong><br>Giclée on 200 gsm FSC-certified fine art paper, twelve pigment inks. White border, centred on the sheet. The colour of the museum’s file is kept, not corrected. Unframed. Shipped rolled in a tube.</p><p><strong>Provenance</strong><br>Charles T. Scowen &amp; Co. (Ceylon, active 1870s–1890s), <em>Two Christmas orchids, Sri Lanka</em>, 1876–93, albumen print.</p><p><strong>Where this comes from</strong><br>The museum file, the measurements, and what we are allowed to sell: <a href="https://museartis.com/pages/sheet-record-scowen-christmas-orchids">the record for this sheet</a>.</p><p><strong>Further reading</strong><br><a href="https://museartis.com/blogs/notes/why-this-print-is-not-bigger">Why This Print Is Not Bigger</a></p>