Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501–1577) - Botanical Study of Fertile Savin Juniper – Engraving (16th Century)

This Renaissance botanical leaf depicts the fertile, berry-bearing form of savin, an evergreen juniper shrub. The plant is shown with its dense, branching habit, fine needle-like foliage and clusters of small blue-green berries. Small winged insects hovering around the specimen add a lively, decorative touch, characteristic of the charm of early printed herbals. The image is accompanied by printed French commentary on the same sheet, describing the plant, its properties and its medicinal uses as understood at the time. Later hand colouring enhances the illustration, bringing out the contrast between the green foliage and the berries. The leaf comes from a French edition of Pietro Andrea Mattioli's commentaries on Dioscorides, the most influential herbal of the sixteenth century. Mattioli's work presented the plants described by the ancient Greek physician Pedanius Dioscorides in the first century AD, adding extensive commentary drawn from his own observations and from contemporary knowledge. First published in Italian in Venice in 1544, it appeared in numerous editions and translations, including French versions printed in Lyon, and its woodcut illustrations set a new standard for accuracy in botanical illustration.

Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1501–1577) was an Italian physician and naturalist from Siena, celebrated as one of the founders of modern botany and pharmacology. After studying medicine in Padua, he practised in several Italian cities before being appointed physician at the Habsburg court, serving Archduke Ferdinand and later Emperor Maximilian II. His commentaries on Dioscorides went through dozens of editions and sold tens of thousands of copies, making them one of the best-known scientific books of the Renaissance. For more than a century they remained an essential reference for physicians, apothecaries and botanists throughout Europe.

Artist or Maker: Pietro Andrea Mattioli
Dimensions: Approximately 36 cm x 23 cm.
Medium: Woodcut with later hand colouring.
Date: 16th Century.
SKU: PLA-0930-2

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