Hendrick van Schuylenburgh

Dr. E.A. van Beresteyn (bears his bookplate)

The binding is not at all solid (the spine of the volume has largely disintegrated) but the individual sheets are in very good condition, with only a little very light foxing, and a few light creases on some sheets.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Although a number of albums of natural history watercolours do survive intact from the 17th century, they are generally much more narrowly focussed and more scientific in their composition than is this remarkable compendium of extremely varied images.  The most famous albums of this type are the 'tulip books,' produced in connection with the astonishing financial speculation in tulip bulbs, the 'tulip mania' of the 1630s, which record in minute detail series of different, highly prized tulips.  Other albums are devoted to other types of flowers, to birds, or (more rarely) to fish or insects, but it is extremely unusual for such a volume to contain the range and variety of images that we see in this album, which contains fine watercolours of birds, flowers, fruit, insects, fish, shells, and all manner of other specimens from the natural world, both domestic and exotic.  In contrast to most of the other surviving 17th-century Dutch natural history albums, which are conceived primarily as classificatory works of science, this extraordinary album would seem to have been made purely to celebrate the natural world in all its diverse glory.  

The title-page is proudly signed by 'Hendrick van Schuylenburgh.'  The only recorded artist of this name is known chiefly as a landscape, rather than natural history, painter who travelled to Asia in the 1660s, recording what he saw there, but since he originated from Middelburg, a great centre of natural history and still-life painting, and since several of the birds and plants depicted in the album are Asian, it seems perfectly possible that he was the author of the watercolours in this remarkable volume.  The French paper, with its fleur-de-lis watermark, and also the style of the drawings would seem to point to a dating in the middle of the 17th century.