# Pierre Joseph Redouté artist context and auction value notes Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/pierre-joseph-redoute/ Profile generated: 2026-04-29T21:12:40.000Z Quality: high confidence, strong sources ## Artist identity - Birth date: 1759-07-10 - Death date: 1840-06-16 - Nationality: Belgian, French - Movements: Botanical illustration - Common media: Watercolour, Stipple engraving, Lithography, Gouache ## About Pierre Joseph Redouté Pierre-Joseph Redouté (1759–1840) was a Belgian-born botanical illustrator and painter who spent most of his career in France. Born in Saint-Hubert in the Austrian Netherlands, he became one of the most celebrated botanical artists in history, earning the nickname "the Raphael of flowers." He served as court painter and official botanical draftsman to both Queen Marie Antoinette and later the Empress Joséphine at the Château de Malmaison, where he documented her extensive gardens. Redouté is best known for his landmark publications Les Liliacées (1802–1816) and Les Roses (1817–1824), which remain benchmarks of botanical art. Working primarily in watercolour and stipple engraving, he brought scientific precision and artistic elegance to every plate. His work is held in major institutional collections worldwide. ## Common works and media Collectors and appraisers most often encounter Redouté through hand-coloured stipple engravings of roses, lilies, and other flowering plants, originally published as folio plates in Les Roses and Les Liliacées. Other common formats include original watercolour and gouache botanical drawings, lithographic botanical prints, and engraved plate pages extracted or bound from his published volumes. Bound first editions of his major works occasionally appear at auction as complete books. ## Market and appraisal context Pierre-Joseph Redouté maintains one of the most liquid and actively traded markets of any botanical artist. Appraisily's auction-record index tracks 52 lots spanning 2003 to late 2024, with 31 carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide but informative: the low end sits at approximately $40 for later reproductions and prints-after, the 25th percentile is around $400 for standard hand-coloured engravings, the median nears $1,560, and the 75th percentile reaches $6,875. The ceiling at $50,000 reflects premium original watercolour drawings and exceptional-condition first-edition plates. Major houses handling Redouté include Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, and a long tail of specialist and regional auctioneers (Neal Auction Company, Arader Galleries, Weschler's, Kunsthaus Lempertz, among others). Liquidity is strong in Europe and North America, with EUR- and GBP-denominated sales common alongside USD. The trailing twelve months show no priced lots in Appraisily's recent sample, though the prior twelve months recorded six, indicating the market is active but seasonal and spread across many houses rather than concentrated. ## Auction-house-backed market evidence Pierre-Joseph Redouté maintains one of the most liquid and actively traded markets of any botanical artist. Appraisily's auction-record index tracks 52 lots spanning 2003 to late 2024, with 31 carrying realized prices. The price distribution is wide but informative: the low end sits at approximately $40 for later reproductions and prints-after, the 25th percentile is around $400 for standard hand-coloured engravings, the median nears $1,560, and the 75th percentile reaches $6,875. The ceiling at $50,000 reflects premium original watercolour drawings and exceptional-condition first-edition plates. Major houses handling Redouté include Christie's, Sotheby's, Bonhams, and a long tail of specialist and regional auctioneers (Neal Auction Company, Arader Galleries, Weschler's, Kunsthaus Lempertz, among others). Liquidity is strong in Europe and North America, with EUR- and GBP-denominated sales common alongside USD. The trailing twelve months show no priced lots in Appraisily's recent sample, though the prior twelve months recorded six, indicating the market is active but seasonal and spread across many houses rather than concentrated. ### Appraisal notes An Appraisily appraisal of a Redouté work would combine the auction-record comparables above with physical examination of the piece. Key inputs the appraiser would request: high-resolution photographs showing colour saturation and paper condition, measured dimensions (folio plates from Les Roses and Les Liliacées have characteristic sizes), confirmation of medium (original watercolour vs. hand-coloured stipple engraving vs. later photomechanical reprint), plate number or title if visible, any signature or inscriptions, provenance documentation (gallery labels, collection stamps, sale records), and binding or extraction evidence if the work was removed from a published volume. The appraiser would then filter the 31 priced comparables to lots matching the same medium and approximate format, weight recent sales more heavily, and adjust for currency, condition differences, and whether the comparable was a single plate or a group lot. The wide interquartile spread ($400–$6,875) means accurate categorisation of the work type is the single most important step. ### Valuation factors - Medium is the primary value driver: original watercolour or gouache drawings command multiples over even the finest hand-coloured engravings. - Publication source matters: plates from Les Roses and Les Liliacées carry the strongest collector recognition and price premiums. - Edition rank: first-edition, first-state plates with strong plate marks and vibrant hand-colouring are worth substantially more than later printings or modern reproductions. - Condition of the paper (foxing, tears, margins, laid/chain lines visible) and colour vibrancy are decisive within each medium tier. - Single-plate lots versus group lots: individual plates with full margins sell higher per unit than groups, which often trade at a discount. - Provenance adds measurable value: documented royal or institutional provenance (e.g., Malmaison origins, Château collection stamps) can push results well above the 75th percentile. - Currency and regional market: EUR- and GBP-denominated results at houses like Bonhams and Lempertz reflect a strong European collector base; USD results at regional US houses tend to cluster lower. ### Collector notes - If you own a Redouté work, look for plate numbers or Latin botanical names in the margins—these identify the series and help narrow comparable sales. Hand-coloured stipple engravings from Les Roses are the most commonly traded format and typically realise between $300 and $2,000 at auction, depending on condition and subject appeal (roses generally outperform other botanicals). Original watercolours are rare at auction and can reach five figures; if you suspect you have one, professional authentication is essential before sale. Group lots of multiple prints (often listed as 'Konvolut' or 'Group of Framed Florilegium') tend to sell for less per plate than individually offered works. The market is well-supplied with over 3,000 historical lots recorded, so rarity claims should be verified against the specific plate number and edition state. ### Market caveats - Redouté's plates have been reproduced continuously for over two centuries; many works encountered at lower price points are later reprints, photographic reproductions, or prints-after rather than period hand-coloured engravings. - The trailing twelve months show zero priced lots in the Appraisily recent sample, which may reflect reporting lag rather than a true market pause—the prior year had six lots, suggesting ongoing activity. - Unpriced lots (21 of 52 in the Appraisily dataset) cannot be used as value comparables; their exclusion may skew the distribution upward since lower-value lots are less frequently reported with results. - Many auction houses list Redouté works under generic titles ('Pierre Joseph Redouté' with no medium or series detail), making exact comparable matching difficult without catalogue review. - Group lots bundle multiple plates and may include mixed quality; the per-plate value derived from a group-lot price is typically lower than an equivalent single-plate sale. ### Market evidence sources - Appraisily auction record index: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/pierre-joseph-redoute/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0 - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-pierre-joseph-redoute-bouquet-of-flowers-with-asters-columbines-irises-and-2350-c-1b14ad4bd8 - Invaluable: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-prints-after-pierre-joseph-redoute-4106-c-e5d4bfda98 ## Appraisily data basis This Appraisily artist page combines verified biographical data from library authority files and art-history institutes with publicly available auction records. Sale dates, realized prices, comparable lots, and auction-house provenance notes are incorporated when those records are available, providing collectors with a grounded basis for understanding how Redouté works are valued in the market. ## Sources - Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q551638 - Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre-Joseph_Redout%C3%A9 - Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79018443 - RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/65892 - VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/46766391/ - Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500005678