The present drawings are evidently by an amateur artist in the Dutch East Indies. The artist may have been in the circle of Andreas Cleyer, who lived in Batavia from 1664 to 1697, and was well known for his botanical drawings made in this region. The relatively early dates make the drawings fascinating first-hand records of Dutch settlements in the East Indies in that period. The botanical richness of the Dutch East Indies is clearly reflected in the drawings that record specimens of plants, such as pepper and ginger, which were traded by the Dutch in Europe for vast profit