Copperplate Engraving of Todda Panna

The Hortus Indicus Malabaricus volumes also include detailed, stunning copper plate engravings of the medicinal plants based on illustrations made in India. These illustrations in the Hortus Malabaricus are masterpieces of botanical illustration. Comparisons of the original ink drawings made in India, now in the British Library, with copper plate engravings in the published volumes suggest that besides two Dutch artists identified in the volumes, Antoni Jacobz Goetkint and Marcelius Splinter, unidentified Indian artists were intimately involved in the original drawings. Comparing the drawings and the copperplate engravings also provide interesting glimpses of the process of converting drawings to copper plate engravings. The published images occasionally include rare views of Malabar landscape and daily life in the 17th century.

Note that the human figure in the published image of the Todda Panna is reversed by the process of making the copper plate engraving and the facial features of the man are decidedly more European in the hands of the Dutch engravers.