Tomato Plant (Solanum lycopersicum)
This is a Chinese export watercolour depicting a tomato plant (Solanum lycopersicum). The illustration features a single branching stem with several small purple flowers displaying the characteristic five-petaled form with yellow stamens typical of the nightshade family. The plant shows tomato fruits in various stages of ripeness - green immature fruits at the top and middle, and a ripe orange-red tomato in the lower part. The plant displays the typical compound leaves of tomatoes, with deeply lobed leaflets arranged along the stems. The leaves are rendered in various shades of green with prominent white venation. The stem appears sturdy and slightly hairy, characteristic of tomato plants. A Chinese inscription at the lower left corner reads “qie hua茄花”, tomato plant. The painting demonstrates the fine brushwork characteristic of Chinese export art from the late 18th or early 19th century, combining traditional Chinese flower-and-bird painting style and Western botanical illustration.
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1973) by Fairhaven, Henry Rogers Broughton
Chinese
Chinese export art
Chinese export watercolour
Support
composed of
paper
Paper
Height 313 mm
Width 401 mm
Watercolour : Watercolour heightened with white on thin paper, backed with second sheet, and both tipped in on the album sheet
Accession number: PD.133-1973.3
Primary reference Number: 32412
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Paintings, Drawings and Prints
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Tomato Plant (Solanum lycopersicum)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/32412 Accessed: 2025-12-07 17:04:00
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/32412
|title=Tomato Plant (Solanum lycopersicum)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-07 17:04:00|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-32412
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