Merian's Pineapple — Antique Botanical Print

The Story in the Margin

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a pioneering naturalist and artist who, in 1699, at age 52, sailed with her daughter to the Dutch colony of Suriname to study and paint its insects and plants firsthand, an extraordinary undertaking for a woman of her era. The pineapple plate that opens her 1705 masterwork, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, was a deliberate choice: Merian called the pineapple 'the most outstanding of all edible fruits' and paired it with the butterflies whose life cycles she had painstakingly observed. Her 60 engraved plates broke new ground by showing insects and plants together in their real ecological relationships rather than as isolated specimens, making this pineapple one of the founding images of modern scientific illustration.

Materials & origin

• Material: 200 gsm gallery-grade, acid-free fine-art paper (FSC-certified).
• Print: Archival giclée, 12-colour printing, smooth matte finish for glare-free display.
• Artwork: Restored from a public-domain original; colour and detail digitally cleaned for large-format print.
• Origin: Made on demand and shipped from the print hub nearest you, cutting transit and waste.
• Framing: Sold unframed; ships rolled in a protective tube.