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Theme: prosperity
The growing of new and exotic plants as a status symbol began in the Renaissance period with melons and oranges. For the Victorians it was orchids and pineapples, but no plant has been associated with wealth as much as tulips were in the golden age of Dutch commercial enterprise.
When Holland emerged as a new nation after decades of war and religious persecution, Dutch merchant adventurers cornered the markets of Asia and America, spending lavishly on art and artefacts decorated with tulips.
Ambrosius Bosschaert, the founding father of Dutch flower painting, commanded good prices for his works, but just one of the tulips flaunting their colours in his vases cost about ten times more.
In early 17th Century Holland, tulip breeders, nurserymen and brokers made and lost fortunes. Houses bore plaques saying they were built with the proceeds of selling one tulip, and speculators were caught in the frenzy.
The Dutch government tried in vain to regulate against fraud and financial ruin. This most unpredictable of markets, based on so fragile a commodity, was known as the wind trade. |
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