Anon. Chinese Herbarium Pressed Cotton Leaf & Flower

An original 1862 pressed leaf Chinese Herbarium Pressed Cotton Leaf & Flower.

This unusual plant specimen was collected in China in the mid-19th century and preserved in an album belonging to a Minnie Wight of Newhaven. Little is known about Minnie Wright, but she was evidently English and her address is 'Newhaven' in 1858. Annotations accompanying the collection indicate that her grandson was called Philip Orford.

Her herbarium specimens date from between 1859 and 1862 and were collected at locations around the 'Great Canal' and Hangzhou, the southern terminus of the Grand Canal. There are also two specimens collected at 'Hogg Farm, England' in 1863.

Whilst extant plant samples from China during this period exist as part of collections compiled by travelling botanists, these rare examples were apparently collected by or for a young female, for whom the collecting of dried plants was a pastime and method of learning. She was likely connected to the British community living in China around the main trade ports of the Yangtze Delta after the 1842 Treaty of Nanking.

The specimen is affixed onto laid paper using cream cotton thread. Please note the small size of this artwork.