Discover Top Posts Tagged with #flora sinensis

Issus de la Flora Sinensis, Michał Boym, 1656

litchi (Litchi chinensis) — papayer (Arbor Papaya) — anacardier (Anacardium occidentale) — manguier (ManKō) (Mangifera indica) — bananier (Musa paradisiaca) — néflier du Japon (Eriobotrya japonica) — goyavier (Psidium guajava) — jacquier (Artocarpus heterophyllus) — ananas (Ananas comosus) — jamrosat ou manguier de forêt / pomme rose (Syzygium jambo)

#Flora Sinensis #Michal Boym

#WorldHippoDay weirdness: This goofy hippo picture is from a rare hand-colored copy of Michał Piotr Boym's Flora Sinensis (1656), one of the earliest European works on Chinese natural history. So why is there an African hippo in it? 🤔

Well, Boym's voyage from Lisbon to Macao included a stop in Mozambique, and in the accompanying text he confirms he observed these "sea horses" while there. Guess he just felt like including them! (He later also wrote an account of Mozambique's natural history.)

#hippo #hippos #hippopotamus #African animals #Mozambique #17th century art #illustration #book illustration #works on paper #natural history art #scientific illustration #Michał Piotr Boym #Flora Sinensis #World Hippo Day #animals in art

BHL Book Feature: Flora Sinensis

Perhaps our favorite illustration from this 17th century work is of a hippopotamus! Hippos are not native to China, but Michał Piotr Boym probably encountered them during his time in Mozambique. Boym wrote a book in Polish about the natural history of Mozambique in 1644, one of the earliest known on biodiversity in Africa.

This week’s BHL Book Feature is Boym’s Flora Sinensis, fructus floresque humillime [Flora of China, fruits and flowers] (1656). Flora Sinensis was contributed for digitization by the Library, Art & Archives of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Learn more on our blog! View all illustrations in our Flickr album.

#Flora Sinensis #BHL Book Feature #China #Hippopotamus #Hippos #Royal Botanic Gardens Kew #BHLib #Biodiversity Heritage Library

BHL Book Feature: Flora Sinensis

Michał Piotr Boym also included introduced species to China that had arrived from the Americas, like this Pineapple (Ananas comosus), as commercial trade was expanding across the world. These fruits, which are part of the Bromeliad family, are widely cultivated now.

This week’s BHL Book Feature is Michał Piotr Boym’s Flora Sinensis, fructus floresque humillime [Flora of China, fruits and flowers] (1656). Flora Sinensis was contributed for digitization by the Library, Art & Archives of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. Learn more on our blog! View all illustrations in our Flickr album.

#Flora Sinensis #BHL Book Feature #BHLib #Royal Botanic Gardens Kew #Fruit #China #Pinneapple #Biodiversity Heritage Library

BHL Book Feature: Flora Sinesis

This week’s BHL Book Feature is Michał Piotr Boym’s Flora Sinensis, fructus floresque humillime [Flora of China, fruits and flowers], published in 1656 by Matthæi Rictii in Vienna. This book is one of the first natural history books on China by a European.

Flora Sinensis contains 48 pages of text and 23 woodcut illustrations, one of which is a Chinese Leopard (Panthera pardus) shown above. We will be sharing more illustrations and details about this early natural history work all this week, and you can learn more on our blog! All of the woodcuts are in an album as part of our Flickr account.

Flora Sinensis was contributed for digitization by the Library, Art & Archives of Royal Botanic Gardens Kew.