(British, 1758-1841)

Nine botanical watercolors, 1792: eight finely executed compositions of moths and wildflowers and the original floral wreath frontispiece to a sketchbook or album inscribed and signed "Drawings of Insects/and Plants from Nature/in the year 1792/Hephzibah Abney", watercolor and ink in paper, each approximately 7-1/2 x 4-1/2 in., largest 8-1/2 x 6-1/4 in.; in one gilt wood frame, 32 x 26 in. [Naturalist]

Note: Hephzibah Need was born in 1758. She married Edward Abney, son of William Abney and Katherine Wotton, on November 17, 1779 at St. Peter's Parish in Nottinghamshire, England. She was the daughter of Lt. Gen. Samuel Need, Esq. (1718-1781), a successful hoser in Fountain Dale, Nottingham. She died in 1841 in Measham, Derbyshire, England. She was 34 when she made these botanical watercolors which are in the style of or after Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717).

See: Sotheby's London, November 28, 2002, lot 185, for a portrait of the artist by Joseph Wright of Derby. See also: Christie's New York, January 10, 1996, lot 286, for another work by this artist.

Provenance: The Estate of Peter H. Tillou, Litchfield, Connecticut

some light foxing, fading, and toning, not removed from frame, not apparently laid down; frame with abrasions