Those who named the plants: Adam, Solomon, Theophrastus, and Dioscorides. Oil paintings.
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- 45879i
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Theophrastus of Lesbos (4th-3rd centuries BC) and Dioscorides (ca. 40-90 AD) were authorities on plants and materia medica. Adam and Solomon are presumably included in the same capacity. In Genesis 1.29 God says to Adam "Behold I have given you every herb, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." A later passage in Genesis (2.19-20) refers to Adam giving names to living creatures (though not explicitly plants): "And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field ". Putting the two passages together, later commentators such as Hieromymus Bock inferred that Adam named the plants, e.g. Bock "Adamum primum hominem omnes creaturas, necnon stirpes, primum cognovisse, eamque cognitionem posteris suis communicasse ... puto Adamum primum extitisse, qui herbariam doctrinam ad posteros propagarit" (H. Bock, De stirpium ... usitatis nomeclaturis, Strassburg 1552, praefat. cap. 2). On King Solomon as a botanist and garden-lover see J.C. Loudon, An encyclopaedia of gardening, London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1825, p. 4
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- two pieces, each containing two paintings, with the key in the lock in the right hand piece
Where to find it
Left: Adam (above) and Theophrastus (below)
Location Status Access Closed storesNote
Right: Solomon (above) and Dioscorides (below)
Location Status Access Closed storesNote
Key related to 45879i
Location Status Access Closed stores45879i.1