Credit: ©The Royal Society
    Image number: RS.11863

    Marine specimens

    Date
    1710
    Creator
    Joseph Mulder (1659 - 1718, Dutch) , Printmaker
    Object type
    Library reference
    RCN61717
    Material
    Technique
    Dimensions
    height (print): 230mm
    width (print): 167mm
    Subject
    Biology
       > Natural history
    Biology
       > Zoology
          > Ichthyology
    Content object
    nature
       > animal
          > fish
    Description
    Seven specimens of fish including: figure 1 a small pufferfish; figure 2 a ray foetus; figures 3-4 mermaid’s purses; and figures 5-6 ray ovaries. Each specimen is presented as hanging from a pin.

    Plate 3 from the book Thesaurus animalium primus, by Frederick Ruysch (Joannem Wolters, Amsterdam, 1710).

    The illustration is inscribed above ‘TAB.III’

    Frederik Ruysch created a cabinet of curiosities in Amsterdam, Netherlands in the 1690s. It contained both human and animal specimens and was renowned for the imaginative presentations which blurred boundaries between science and art. The collection was purchased by Peter the Great of Russia in 1717 and transferred to St Petersburg.

    Frederik Ruysch (1638-1731), Dutch botanist and anatomist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1715.
    Associated place
    <The World>
       > Europe
          > Netherlands
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