Swallowtail butterflies. Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except Antarctica. The family includes the largest butterflies in the world, the birdwing butterflies of the genus Ornithoptera.
Swallowtails have a number of distinctive features; for example, the papilionid caterpillar bears a repugnatorial organ called the osmeterium on its prothorax. The osmeterium normally remains hidden, but when threatened, the larva turns it outward through a transverse dorsal groove by inflating it with fluid. Reference: Wikipedia
Maureen Minchin a Large Jar and Cover with Seated Leopard, 2011 the jar mounted with two Green Ringed Parakeets and two Black Hooded Orioles and painted with Indian Python, Langur monkey, Chameleon, Rufus Treepie, Samba deer, Indian Tigers, Grasshopper and Swallowtail Butterfly 36cm high, artist name and dated
Sold for £ 1,625 inc. premium at Bonhams in 2011
Wild fennel, with swallowtail butterfly and its caterpillar and chrysalis, a cranefly (‘daddy longlegs’) with chrysalis on the left and a scalloped oak moth with a sprig of lilac lower left, and a magpie (currant) moth with caterpillar, chrysalis and eggs lower right; from an album of 160 drawings entitled ‘Merian’s Drawings of European Insects &c’; Watercolour and body colour, on vellum Drawn by: Maria Sibylla Merian 1670-1699 (circa)
Reference: © The Trustees of the British Museum
George Jacobus Johannes van Os (Amsterdam 1805-1841) Two studies of swallowtail butterflies, wings extended and closed (pl. 2) watercolour, black framing lines, one with fragmentary watermark 3 7/8 x 6 3/8 in. (9.8 x 16.3 cm.); and 4¾ x 6¾ in. (12 x 17 cm.) (2)
Sold for EUR 2,500 at Christies in 2014
A pair of famille rose porcelain dishes with gilt foliate edges – faces decorated with black swallowtail butterflies and florals. H:1in (2.5cm) D:6 7/8in (15cm)
Sold for $300 at Steven’s Art & Antiques in 2018
Sword guard (Tsuba) Depicting Swallowtail Butterflies (揚羽蝶図鐔),ca. 1800-1870 Japanese This polished shibuichi tsuba shows three swallowtail butterflies (ageha-chō) which are subtly highlighted with nunome-zōgan. The rim is raised and partially folded over.
Reference: The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Swallow-tail butterfly and caterpillar; Brimstone butterfly (male flying, female at rest); Large garden White butterfly (female). English about 1930 Publisher Raphael Tuck & Sons (English, 1886–1960)
Reference: Museum of Fine Arts Boston
Jan van Kessel the Elder ANTWERP 1626 – 1679 A SWALLOWTAIL (PAPILIO MACHAON), RED ADMIRAL (VANESSA ATALANTA) AND OTHER INSECTS WITH SHELLS AND A SPRIG OF BORAGE (BORAGO OFFICINALIS) oil on copper 6 1/4 by 9 1/4 in.; 15.9 by 23.5 cm.
Jan van Kessel the Elder’s delightful painting on copper of butterflies, insects and flowers was probably made to decorate a collector’s cabinet which contained naturalia. Sets of such paintings were produced, making up an even number and arranged round a central painting. Perhaps influenced by Joris Hoefnagel’s (1542-1601) exquisite gouache studies of insects, van Kessel started to paint this type of composition in the first half of the 1650s; the earliest dated examples are from 1653 (a set of five with Richard Green in 1975). He produced them well into the 1660s, but most dated examples are from the 1650s.
Sold for 326,500 USD at Sothebys in 2009
