Monsonia multifidum E.Mey. ex Kunth (with an insect) Possibly 1777 - 1786

Robert Jacob Gordon made this watercolor of a Monsonia multifidum, complete with an insect, sometime before his death in 1795. Gordon was a Dutch military officer and explorer of Scottish descent, who served in the Dutch East India Company. His depictions of flora and fauna, like this one, are part of the European Enlightenment’s scientific project of understanding and classifying the natural world. But scientific endeavor never exists in a vacuum. Here, we see the way botany becomes entangled with colonial expansion. Gordon’s explorations were, after all, made possible by the Dutch East India Company’s economic and military power in the region. To understand Gordon’s drawing fully, we might consult botanical records, colonial archives, and travel logs. By examining the broader context, we can understand how this image reflects the complex dynamics of science, colonialism, and power in the 18th century.