[Emperor Moth]

Description

RARE original hand-colour copper engraving. Famous antique print from ‘Metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium…’ by Maria Sibylla Merian; pl. 39, published in Amsterdam. [(The Insects of Surinam)]. Maria Sibylla Merian (1647 – 1717), daughter of the German engraver and publisher Matthäus Merian, devoted herself to the study of European insects and the first naturalist to record the process of metamorphosis. Most of the plates were engraved by P. Sluyter and J. Mulder, some by P. Stoopendal.