This is a portfolio page from Hortus Eystettensis, a botanical book produced by Basilius Besler in the 1600’s. Besler was an apothecary and botanist and is best known for compiling this book, which is one of the most important botanical books ever recorded. Christie’s has called it the greatest flower book in the world. The book is a codex - a florilegium - a gathering of all the flowers grown in the gardens which surrounded the castle of the Prince of Eichstatt in Bavaria, who wanted to record the diversity and beauty of all the gardens. In 1611 the Prince employed Besler to create this record, and the result was one of the finest treasures of botanical literature ever produced.

Besler is often cited as the author of the Hortus Eystettensis, but he was really the person who guided the compilation and publication of the book. He was originally employed as an apothecary and botanist at a time when herbal medicine was very important, but he didn’t write any botanical descriptions for the book. He engaged artists, engravers, printers and colorists to create the masterpiece. The artists created color drawings on site or from specimens - Besler chose to draw the rare and more beautiful plants over indigenous species - and they were drawn when the plants were in full-bloom; most of the plants in the book were depicted in actual or near-life size.

Besler worked on the book for 16 years, and subsequently it became an important historical document, and while he never did any of the drawings himself, he was very important to the development of botanical art.

The book is a magnificent pictorial document and considered the first botanical book portraying plants as objects of beauty, not just a book about the medicinal uses of plants and herbs.

There is Latin writing on the back of the portfolio page. The overall size is 32 1/2 x 28 1/8 in. wide and the sight size is 21 1/2 x 17 1/2 in. wide.