Chinese botanical paintings for the export market.(Cover Story)

A single stem of chrysanthemum explodes off the page shown in Plate I. This exquisite Chinese export painting was executed about 1823, two years after this variety of chrysanthemum, the so-called quilled orange, had been introduced into English gardens. (1) Chinese plants were first brought to Europe in the late seventeenth century, but ready access to new varieties of Asian species was not widely feasible until the last years of the eighteenth century. Although he never visited China, Georg Joseph Camel (1661-1706), a Moravian Jesuit missionary stationed in the Philippines, collected plants from the Chinese community in Manila to dry and send back to Europe. In honor of ...