Strawberries - Pietro Andrea Mattioli — Contemporary hand-coloured leaf from Kreutterbuch (1611)

An original botanical leaf with contemporary hand-coloured woodcuts from the 1611 Frankfurt edition of Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s Kreutterbuch. The herbal was a major Renaissance reference for the identification and medicinal uses of plants.

Two woodcuts compare a strawberry labelled Fragaria with the white strawberry, Fraga alba. The illustrations show the flowers, serrated leaves, exposed roots and runners, with individual berries drawn separately to make their shape and seeds easier to see. The German text discusses different kinds of strawberries and records their historical uses in the kitchen and in medicine.

The bright berries and curling runners make this a particularly lively botanical leaf. The German text and botanical illustrations show how early modern herbals combined careful observation with practical knowledge of plants.

Toned paper with scattered spotting, an uneven lower edge and ink marks on the text side. The illustrations are on the verso.