Saffron Crocus (Crocus sativus) c. early 19th century

This is an image of a Saffron Crocus, or Crocus sativus, made with watercolor and graphite on paper by an anonymous artist. As a historian of social institutions, I am drawn to the way botanical drawings like this one reflect a larger culture of scientific observation and classification. The level of detail suggests this drawing may have been part of a larger project to document plant species, perhaps connected to the rise of botanical gardens and scientific academies in Europe. These institutions played a key role in shaping our understanding of the natural world, but they were also tied to colonial expansion and the exploitation of resources from around the globe. To fully understand this image, we might research the history of botanical illustration and the networks of knowledge production that sustained it. We can understand how this seemingly simple image is embedded in broader social, economic, and political structures.