Purple Tulip
by Shirley Mangini
Title
Purple Tulip
Artist
Shirley Mangini
Medium
Photograph - Photograph
Description
Tulip flowers likely received their name due to the resemblance to the turban. They are a member of the lily family. Tulips originated in mountain regions of Asia, near the Himalayans. Records also show tulips in Turkey for over a thousand years ago. In the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, tulips appear in Bibles, poems and songs. The sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Suleiman the Magnificent, had tulips in the gardens at court in Constantinople. The ambassador for Ferdinand the First, the Austrian Emperor, was intrigued by tulips. His name was Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq. He wrote about tulips and sent bulbs and seeds to the head of the Vienna Imperial Gardens, Carolus Clusius, in 1554. This is the first record of tulips in Europe. In 1593 Carolus Clusius planted tulip bulbs I Europes first botanic garden in Leiden, Netherlands He brought with him from Vienna to plant in the gardens. He refused to share his bulbs, and when he did, he sold his tulips for high prices. As a result, the coveted bulb was stolen from his garden, and thus began the Dutch tulip trade. The rarity of the tulip prompted a phase in the Netherlands of extremely high prices. Bulbs were sold for what is the equalivant to over $2,000 in the modern United States. People cashed in their families' valuables, to buy tulip bulbs and enter the trade. From 1634 on, traders sold bulbs by weight, making large sums of money. The broken-striped tulips fetched the highest prices. These tulips actually got their unusual patterns from a virus, and only tulips hybridized to mimic these looks are allowed in cultivation today. In 1637 the tulip market crashed when the buyers no longer paid the exorbitant prices. Today the Netherlands produce 3 billion tulip bulbs annually, exporting approximately 2 billion. Even though tulips' natural habitat consists of mountain regions, the Dutch adapted approximately half of their bulb-producing acres to tulips.
Uploaded
March 28th, 2016
Statistics
Viewed 387 Times - Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 03/19/2024 at 12:36 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet