African Daisy – Aster Africanus

This attractive botanical engraving is from Jan and Caspar Commelin’s work Horti Medici Amstelodamensis Rariorum Tam Orientalis, quàm Occidentalis Indiae, aliarumque Peregrinarum Plantarum… The work was published in Amsterdam by J. Blaeu and A. van Someren between 1697 and 1701.

The illustrations for the work were done by Jan Moninckx, Maria Moninckx, and Johanna Helena Herolt (the eldest daughter of Maria Sibylla Merian).

Jan Commelin (1629-1692) was a Dutch botanist and professor. He specialized in exotic plants and helped to establish the botanical garden in Amsterdam so that they could be cultivated and observed by the public. He served as the director of the Amsterdam Physic Gardens.

Caspar Commelin (1668-1731) was also a Dutch botanist and the nephew of Jan Commelin. Caspar completed several of Jan Commelin’s works which were unfinished at Jan’s passing.

“The first volume, on the plants of the East and West Indies, [this] was [his] most important contribution to botanical knowledge; it was brought out posthumously by his nephew Caspar. The second volume was by Caspar Commelin and contained an enlargement on some of the notes in Jan’s book, with further notes on African plants. The original paintings…were mainly the work of Johan and Maria Moninck and may be seen in the Library of the Hortus Botanicus in Amsterdam.” (Hunt)

Provenance: Armorial Bookplate of the De Castro family (Counts of Monsanto and Marquesses of Cascais)