Copper engraving, hand-painted, 320 x 210 mm. Munting was a professor of botany at the University of Groningen and took over and expanded the botanical garden founded by his father, Henricus. He was the author of numerous works on medical and botanical subjects; his most famous works, published posthumously, are "Nauwkeurige Beschrijving Der Aardgewassen" and "Phytographia curiosa" (from which this plate is taken). The great success of his work was due to the particular innovation of his elegant plates, which, radically departing from the iconography of traditional florilegium, presented plant species against a suggestive series of landscape backgrounds. They also depicted some of the unknown and extraordinary exotic plants he observed in his father's garden. This is one of the first and most important documents regarding Japanese flora and its importation to the West, predating Thunberg's works by almost a hundred years. Excellent example in beautiful colors.