Tulipa gesneriana (have-tulipan) 1635 - 1664

This watercolor on vellum of a tulip was made by Hans Simon Holtzbecker. It is currently held in the Statens Museum for Kunst in Copenhagen. Holtzbecker was active in the Gottorf court in the mid-17th century, where he was commissioned to make botanical illustrations. The tulip in the image is the *Tulipa gesneriana*, a flower that had a complex relationship with the social structures of its time. In the Netherlands, the tulip trade fueled a speculative bubble, leading to the infamous Tulip Mania, a financial crisis that reflected the shifting economic landscape of the Dutch Golden Age. These botanical illustrations provide a glimpse into the cultural and economic values of the 17th century, where the natural world became a source of both scientific inquiry and material wealth. Museum archives, along with historical records, can allow us to explore the institutional context, connecting the world of art to larger social and economic stories.