Famed Dutch botanist and artist Sybil Merian, the entire central composition encircled by a border decorated in a European, baroque style. Merian was an exceptional woman, even for the 17th century Dutch republic of her time; she divorced her husband and went with her daughter to the Dutch colony of Surinam to study the flora and fauna of that island, returning, and eventually having her studies made into engravings from which this pattern is derived. Plate date ca. 1740.
Photo: J E Nilsson, coll. 2018
Dutch botanist and artist interested in the study of insects and plants in the Dutch West Indies. Occurs on Chinese export decorations sometimes in combination with design elements reminiscent of designs by Cornelis Pronk.
For examples; see David Howard and John Ayers, vol. 2, p. 304; Charlotte Jacob-Hanson, "Maria Sibylla Merian, Artist-Naturalist," The Magazine ANTIQUES, (Brant Publications, Inc. New York), August 2000, pp. 174-183.
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