Crotalaria, Pl. 617 — Encyclopédie Méthodique

The rattlepod Crotalaria, named for the sound its dried seed pods make, depicted with the anatomical rigour characteristic of the finest Enlightenment botanical plates.

After J. E. de Sève; engraved by Robert Bénard. Botanique, Plate 617, from the Encyclopédie Méthodique. Published in Paris, c. 1793.

The Encyclopédie Méthodique expanded upon Diderot and d'Alembert's original Encyclopédie, reorganising knowledge into subject-specific dictionaries with thousands of newly commissioned plates. Its Botanique section, overseen by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, remains a landmark of Enlightenment-era plant taxonomy and scientific illustration.

Copperplate engraving on laid paper, approximately 29.7 × 21.6 cm. Excellent.