Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10234
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Coffee plant
Date
1715
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
After
Richard Bradley (1688 - 1732, British) , Botanist
Object type
Library reference
29716
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 195mm
width (print): 134mm
width (print): 134mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Botanical study of the coffee plant Coffea arabica showing the leaves, flowers and beans.
Frontispiece plate to the monograph A short historical account of coffee; containing the most remarkable observations of the greatest men in Europe concerning it... with a... description of the coffee-tree... (and) an exact figure...by Richard Bradley (Emanuel Matthews, London, 1715). Inscribed above “The Coffe Tree”.
This is believed to be the first colour depiction of a coffee shoot with leaves, flowers and fruits. According to the preface to the work, Bradley drew the plant during a period at Amsterdam, where he stayed from 1714. Elsewhere [pp 7-8] he states that “In the Physick Garden of Amsterdam are two Coffee Trees, about 17 Foot high each, which have been for some time in a bearing State, and have at most Seasons Fruit upon them; from one if these Trees I design’d the Figure I present you with, which in every point resembles the Branch I took it from, except only in the size, which ought to be one third part bigger to make it equal with the Life.”
Richard Bradley (1688-1732) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1712.
Frontispiece plate to the monograph A short historical account of coffee; containing the most remarkable observations of the greatest men in Europe concerning it... with a... description of the coffee-tree... (and) an exact figure...by Richard Bradley (Emanuel Matthews, London, 1715). Inscribed above “The Coffe Tree”.
This is believed to be the first colour depiction of a coffee shoot with leaves, flowers and fruits. According to the preface to the work, Bradley drew the plant during a period at Amsterdam, where he stayed from 1714. Elsewhere [pp 7-8] he states that “In the Physick Garden of Amsterdam are two Coffee Trees, about 17 Foot high each, which have been for some time in a bearing State, and have at most Seasons Fruit upon them; from one if these Trees I design’d the Figure I present you with, which in every point resembles the Branch I took it from, except only in the size, which ought to be one third part bigger to make it equal with the Life.”
Richard Bradley (1688-1732) was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1712.
Object history
Presented to the Royal Society by Robert Balle (c.1640-c.1743) at a meeting on 28 April 1715: 'Mr. Balle presented from Mr. Bradley a printed account of coffee, with the figure of the plant, its flowers and berry taken from the life' (JBO/12/31, 1715). Balle and Bradley were close colleagues, with Balle proposing Bradley for election to the Fellowship.
A handwritten inscription on the book's title page ('Liber Societatis Regalis ex dono authoris') indicates that it was a gift from the author.
A handwritten inscription on the book's title page ('Liber Societatis Regalis ex dono authoris') indicates that it was a gift from the author.
Associated place