HIBISCVS (Hibiscus)

Date1757-1764

Artist Johann Hieronymus Kniphof

MediumInk and watercolor on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 12 11/16 × 7 9/16in. (32.2 × 19.2cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number2008-44,17

DescriptionLower margin reads: "HIBISCVS foliis cordatis crenatis: angulis lateralibus exti-/mis paruis, caule arboreo. Linn. S. P. 694./Maluauiscus. Ludw. D. G. P. 155."
Label TextIn 1729, Johann Hieronymus Kniphof, a professor, doctor, and keeper of the botanic garden in Erfurt, Germany, developed a new method for creating botanical images. Kniphof’s process used the plant itself to produce an exact image. After the plant was harvested, he pressed and dried it. Once it dried, he applied ink directly to the specimen and rolled it through a printing press. In an early report he explained “the manifest economic advantages the process had compared with botanical books illustrated with woodcuts or copper plates.” Previously botany texts had used inefficient woodblock prints, which lost detail, or copper plates, which became too costly. This new process of nature printing allowed for the plant to be depicted more affordably in an as true-to-life manner as possible.