Citation
"Plant and Insect Study: Bottle Gourd; Io Butterfly (Unidentified Artist)(Previously attributed to Josef Abel) , 4.1965.8,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Nov 23, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/311879.
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This unusual gourd has a large round bottom, narrow neck like a bottle, and a larger tip like a small cucumber, a short remnant of the stem remains. It’s a chartreuse green color. Shading and highlights enhance the roundness of the form, dark green venation is described. A single light brown seed of the plant is drawn in the middle on left. A detailed butterfly of browns, whites, and orange, open wings, on the left, faces the top of the gourd. Shadowing underneath gives everything dimensionality. Manuscript of the Latin names in the lower left.