Exhibitions | Past

Picturing Natural History
Flora and Fauna in Drawings, Manuscripts, and Printed Books
February 12 through May 4, 2003

Iris
Pedanius Dioscorides (Greek, active ca. A.D. 50)
De materia medica, in Greek
Constantinople, ca. 930–70
Gouache on vellum, 385 leaves
15 1/2 x 11 13/16 in. (395 x 300 mm)
Purchased by J. P. Morgan, 1920; MS M.652, fol. 114v

Corn Plants, Anthill, and Ants
Bestiary, in Latin
Lincoln, England, ca. 1185
Tempera on vellum, 120 leaves
8 1/2 x 6 1/8 in. (215 x 155 mm)
Purchased by Pierpont Morgan, 1902; MS M.81, fol. 31v

Mussels and a Crab
Hours of Catherine of Cleves, in Latin
Utrecht, The Netherlands, ca. 1440
Hours of Catherine of Cleves, in Latin
Utrecht, The Netherlands, ca. 1440
Illuminated by the Master of Catherine of Cleves (Netherlandish, active 1430–60)
Tempera on vellum, 358 leaves
7 1/2 x 5 1/8 in. (192 x 130 mm)
Purchased on the Belle da Costa Greene Fund and with the assistance of the Fellows, 1963; MS M.917, p. 244

Leonhart Fuchs (German, 1501–1566)
Two Varieties of Indian Pepper
De historia stirpium commentarii. . . . Basle: Officina Isingriniana, 1542.
Hand-colored woodcut
Binding: 15 3/4 x 10 in. (400 x 254 mm)
Gift of Henry S. Morgan from the collection of Mrs. J. P. Morgan, 1965; PML 25988, pp. 732–33

Maria Sibylla Merian (Dutch, 1647–1717)
Surinam Lizard
Pen and black ink and watercolor and gouache, on vellum
13 x 17 in. (329 x 430 mm)
Purchased on the Sunny Crawford von Bülow Fund 1978, 2001.10

Sarah Stone (British, 1761/62–1844)
Malabar Shrike
Watercolor and gouache, heightened with white gouache, over traces of graphite, on pale gray paper
15 1/2 x 11 7/16 in. (393 x 290 mm)
Signed and dated in pen and black ink at lower center, Sarah Stone: 1782; inscribed in pen and brown ink at upper left, Malabar Shrike. Sapa:, in pen and brown ink at upper right, Lanicit malabarisus. lai:.
Purchased on the Ryskamp Fund, 1998.30