28/02/2026
Albertus Seba (1665–1736) was an Amsterdam pharmacist who spent his entire adult life collecting the rarest natural specimens on earth. His network stretched across the Dutch East India Company's global trade routes — shells from the Pacific, corals from the Caribbean, specimens from Brazil, Sri Lanka, Greenland and Indonesia all arrived at his door.
In 1716, Tsar Peter the Great purchased Seba's first collection in its entirety for his Kunstkamera in St. Petersburg — one of the largest natural history transactions in history. Seba immediately began assembling a second collection, larger than the first.
Between 1734 and 1765, that second collection was published as Locupletissimi Rerum Naturalium Thesauri — four folio volumes of hand-coloured copper engravings documenting every specimen. The shell plates are among the most celebrated in the entire work. Seba's engravers — Pierre Tanje, F. de Bakker and A. van der Laan — arranged the shells not just scientifically but decoratively, grouping them into compositions of extraordinary visual beauty.
Original plates from this publication now sell at auction for £1,500–£2,500 each. This is a canvas reproduction of one of the shell arrangement plates from the 1734 first edition.
Almost all existing print sellers offer Seba on small paper prints only. This listing delivers a gallery-wrapped canvas, ready to hang on arrival.
Reproduction of a public domain artwork. Albertus Seba (1665–1736). Original publication Amsterdam, 1734.
This Digital Prints item is sold by TheFinerThingsClubGB. Dispatched from United States. Listed on 28 Feb, 2026
