Pomegranate (Punica granatum), Anselmus Boëtius de Boodt, 1596 - 1610
This sheet is possibly one of the many botanical drawings in the albums made by the Delft flower painter Elias Verhulst, whom De Boodt commissioned for some 200 drawings. The shadows on the ground were probably added in the 19th century to suggest more volume. The Latin name of the plant, Punica, refers to the Phoenician people, said to have spread its cultivation from North Africa.