Lemon

This strong, first edition citrus engraving is from Jan Commelin (Commelyn)’s Nederlandtze Hesperides. The work was published in Amsterdam by Marcus Doorninck in 1676. The work illustrated citrus plants and orangeries or greenhouses.

Jan Commelin (1629-1692) was the director of the Amsterdam Physic Garden, known as the Hortus Medicus (later Hortus Botanicus) during a great expansion which witnessed the addition of numerous plants from the Dutch East Indies, West Indies, and South Africa. Those found at the Garden were often the first specimens of individual species in Europe.