17th Century Collection

Insects of Surinam
Plate 7 from Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium (1726) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717) & Johanna Helena Herolt (1668-1773)

Insects of Surinam
Plate 9 from Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium (1726) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717) & Johanna Helena Herolt (1668-1773)

Caiman crocodilus crocodilus and Anilius scytale
Spectacled caiman and South American false coral snake. Plate 69 from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium of de Verandering der Surinaamsche Insecten (1705) by A. Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717)

Insects of Surinam
Plate 4 from Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium (1726) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717) & Johanna Helena Herolt (1668-1773)

Ananas comosus (pineapple) & Philaethria dido
Pineapple tree (Ananas comosus) with butterfly, caterpillar & crysalis (Philaethria dido). Plate 2 from Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717)

Handpainted plate by Maria Sibylla Merian
Illustration from Neues Blumenbuch (New Book of Flowers) by Maria Sibylla Merian, published in 1680

Lodge Park, built as a grandstand in the Sherborne Estate near the villages of Sherborne, Aldsworth and Northleach in Gloucestershire, England

Three wise monkeys at the Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko, Japan
The three wise monkeys - a 17th-century carving at the Tosho-gu shrine in Nikko, Japan carved by Hidari Jingoro - hear no evil (Kikazaru), speak no evil (Iwazaru), see no evil (Mizaru)

Sant Agnese in Agone, Piazza Navona, Rome, Italy
Sant Agnese in Agone - a 17th-century Baroque church in Rome, Italy, facing onto the Piazza Navona. Date: circa 1950s

The Ruins of Saint Paul s, Macau, China
The Ruins of Saint Pauls 17th-century Catholic religious complex in Santo Antonio, Macau, China

St Antholins church
St Antholins was a church in Watling Street in the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren

Acrocinus longimanus, harlequin beetle and Citrus medica, et

Morpho menelaus, blue morpho butterfly
Plate 53 from Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian

Hans Sloanes nautilus shell
Sir Hans Sloane is perhaps the most important collector ever. His huge collection forms the core of both the British Museum and the Natural History Museum

Wooden Platters and Horn Mugs
Wooden platters and horn mugs at the Henry Whitfield State Historical Museum in Connecticut dating from 1637 Date: 1637

Pressed insects, mounted by botanist Leonard Plukenet (1642
Pressed by Leonard Plukenet in around 1690

Peacocks, Turkeys and a Dodo
Illustration of Peacocks, Turkeys and a Dodo by Francis Willughby (1635-1672)

Danaidae sp. milkweed butterflies in mounts
Folio 20 from a volume of Petiver insects depicting milkweed or monarch butterflies from the family (Danainae) preserved between sheets of mica

Pineapple with insects
Plate 2 from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium by Maria Sybilla Merian

New Methods of Plants 1682
Book plate from Methodus Plantarum Nova in which John Ray published his natural system of plant classification

Robert Plot (1640-1696)
Portrait of Robert Plot, a British naturalist, first Professor of Chemistry at Oxford University and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum

Iris germanica (left) and Iris pallida (right), bearded iris
Illustration by Anna Maria Sibylla Merian, from the Dutch Collection, late 1600s. Held in the Botany Library at the Natural History Museum, London

Title page to Robert Hookes Micrographia (1665)
Micrographia : or, Some physical descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses, with observations and enquiries thereupon. Hooke, Robert, 1635-1703. London, 1665

Matricaria chusan, upas tree
Specimen from Sloane Herbarium Vol.330, Keuk hoa. Page 57 with Petivers printed label. Held in the Botany Library at the Natural History Museum, London

Garden Illustration
An illustration from Hortus Floridus (1614) by Crispian van de Passe

Tagetes erecta L. marigold

Insects of Surinam
Plate 14 from Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosibus Insectorum Surinamensium (1726) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717) & Johanna Helena Herolt (1668-1773)

Two species of beetle, with larvae on a Mexican or prickly poppy. Plate 24 from Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717)

Heteropoda venatoria & Avicularia avicularia
Huntsman spider (Heteropoda venatoria) and pinktoe tarantula (Avicularia avicularia). Engraving made for Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian

Thysania agrippina, white witch
Caterpillar, cocoon and adults of a white witch moth (Thysania agrippina). Plate 20 from Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717)

Insects, plants & shells against landscape

Lucanus cervus, stag beetle
Also, Macrodontia cervicorn, palm weevil beetle & grub, Rhynchophorus palmarum and other unrelated insects. Plate 48 from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium by Maria Sybilla Merian, 1705

Heliconius ricini
Butterflies (Heliconius ricini) feed on caster-oil plant (Ricinus communis). Plate 30 from Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian

Arsenura armida, Emperor moth caterpillars on coral tree
Emperor moth caterpillars on coral tree from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium of te Verandering der Surinaamsche Insecten by Maria Sibylla Merian

Stagmatoptera precaria, mantid
Life cycle of the mantid (Stagmatoptera precaria). Reproduced as an engraving after the orginal watercolour from as Plate 66 Metamorphosis Insectorum (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717)

Plate from New Book of Flowers (1680)
Illustration from Neues Blumenbuch or New Book of Flowers (1680) by Maria Sibylla Merian

Manihot esculenta, cassava plant
Illustration from Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium (1705) by Maria Sybilla Merian

Portrait believed to be the Dutch Chemist Jan Baptist van He
This portrait was originally believed to be the Naturalist John Ray (1627-1705) and it was even suggested to be a portrait of Robert Hooke (1635-1703)

Hibiscus seeds
An illustration of three hibiscus seeds as seen through a microscope, from page 497 of Flora, overo Cultura di Fiori (1638) by Battista Giovanni Ferrari (1582-1655)

Pan troglodytes, chimpanzee

Pongo pygmaeus, orang-outang
The muscles of the Pongo pygmaeus from Orang-Outang sive Homo Sylvestris: or, The Anatomy of a Pygmie Compared with That of a Monkey, an Ape, and a Man by Edward Tyson, 1699

Anna Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717)
Portrait of Anna Maria Sibylla Merian, a German naturalist. Frontispiece from Erucarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis by Merian (1717)

Insect collection by James Petiver (1663-1)
This late 17th century insect collection is unique in that the specimens are mounted and preserved between sheets of the mineral mica

Saxifraga hirculus, Marsh saxifrage
Originally published in: Exoticarum aliarumque minus cognitarum Plantarum centuria prima by Breyne, Jakob (1637-1697) Published in Gedani (Danzig) 1678. Natural History Museums Botany Library

Thelypteris reticulata, latticevein fern
Illustration from Description des Plantes de l Amerique (1693) by Charles Plumier, of Type Specimens of plants named by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

Ceropegia candelabrum, ceropegia
Illustration from Hortus Indicus Malabaricus (1678-1703) by Hendrik Adriaan van Rheede tot Drakenstein, of Type Specimens of plants named by Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778)

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