Page 126 - Bonhams Catalog Cohen and Cohen Jan 24, 2023 New York

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A PAIR OF RARE BUE AND WHITE ‘MARIA SIBYLLA MERIAN’ insectorum Surinamensium (“The Metamorphosis of the Insects of
BOTANICAL PLATES Suriname”). Arguably the most important work of her career, it included
Qianlong period, circa 1740 some 60 engravings illustrating the different stages of development
Each boldly painted and gilt at the center with a large botanical cluster that she had observed in Suriname’s insects. Metamorphosis
incorporating elements of published designs by the botanical illustrator depicted the insects on and around their host plants and included text
Maria Sibylla Merian, depicting iris, butterflies and caterpillars, the well describing each stage of development. She later published a book of
and broad rim also with unusual variants of well-established standard her drawings, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium published in
designs. Holland in 1705 and in France in 1771.
10¼in (25.5cm) diam (2).
At least four parts of the decoration on this pair of plates are derived
$2,500 - 4,500 from different plates in her third Raupenbuch (caterpillar book) first
published in 1717. The iris is taken from plate 20 (CXXI in the 1730
乾隆時期 約1740年 青花描金《瑪麗亞·西碧拉·梅里安》草蟲圖盤一對 edition) and the anemone from plate 34 (CXXXV). The cinnabar moth
is similar to one in plate 28 (CXXIX) and the larger caterpillar on the
Published: anemone is taken from plate 39 (CXL) originally depicted on the willow
Cohen & Cohen, A Game of Bowls, Gent, 2014, p. 33, no. 24 branch. The smaller caterpillar is probably from plate CXIII.

出版： The designs in the narrow well and on the broad flat rim are also
倫敦Cohen & Cohen古董行，《A Game of Bowls》，根特，2014 unusual, apparently closely relating to those on an Imperial porcelain
年，頁33，圖版編號24 vase, now on display in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which bears
an Imperial Qianlong mark and is considered to date from about
Elements of the central image are taken and combined from designs 1740. This also has the iris and anemone derived from Merian’s
by Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717), a remarkable Frankfurt-born prints, though the other flowers and butterflies are in a more Chinese
German natural historian and botanical artist who first traveled to the style. This suggests a previous unconsidered artistic interaction
Dutch West Indies in 1688. The origins of this design were discovered and exchange, perhaps very infrequently, between Imperial ceramic
by C. Jacob-Hanson, and published in the Magazine Antiques, ‘Maria workshops in Jingdezhen and those making porcelains for the export
Sibylla Merian: artist and naturalist’, August 2000, pp.174-183, no.2 market.

In 1699 Merian and her second daughter Dorothea Maria left References: for similar examples in blue and white see Cohen &
Amsterdam (her adopted home after getting divorced in Germany), Cohen, 2006, no. 32, a later tureen and cover with the same design,
for a projected five-year-long expedition to Suriname, located on and 2014, 58-57; and for famille rose enameled examples, see
the northern coast of South America. The voyage afforded Merian Peabody Essex Museum, illustrated by Sargent, 2012, no, 120, p.
a unique opportunity to explore new species of insects and plants. 245, where he also records other related Merian-decorated wares;
The two women settled in at Paramaribo and together collected, Howard & Ayers, 1978, no. 298, p. 304 for an enameled dinner plate;
studied, and composed illustrations of the jungle’s plants, insects, Howard, 1994, no. 60, p. 78; Jörg, 1997, fig. 334, p. 287; and Cohen
and other animals. After less than two years, however, illness forced & Cohen, 2005, no. 11, for a large charger, and also 2006, no. 32.
Merian to return to Amsterdam. In 1705 she published Metamorphosis

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