Courtesy of the Harn Museum of Art, Photography by Foad Seyed Mohammadi

Plate 44

Artist Maria Sibylla Merian (German, 1647 - 1717)

Date1705

MediumEngraving, hand colored

DimensionsPaper: 19 1/4 x 13 3/4 in., (48.9 x 34.9 cm,)
Mat: 22 x 18 in. (55.9 x 45.7 cm)
Image: 11 3/4 x 9 3/4 in. (29.8 x 24.8 cm)

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineMuseum purchase, funds provided by Kevin and Margaret Harrington

Object number2010.27.5

Collections

PRINTS AND DRAWINGS BEFORE 1850

DescriptionBixa orellana (Achiote plant) in flower, with red seeds inside a fuzzy seed pod. Hesperiidae (the blue moth) and Pyralidae (the blue and white moth) and their larvae/caterpillars and pupae resembling the subfamily Arctiinae (Family Erebidae) crawl on the plant. Plate 44 from "Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium", Amsterdam, 1705.