Mark Catesby had a naturalist’s interest in detail and an artist’s talent for composition. His intricate studies of flora and fauna in North America offered many European scientists their fi rst glimpses of unfamiliar species. Over the course of the eighteenth century, the close examination of the natural world by Catesby and others directly infl uenced the ornamentation of ceramics, textiles, and other household items.

Mark Catesby
(English, 1683–1749)
“Buffl e Head Duck,” 1731–34
From Natural History of Carolina,
Florida and the Bahama Islands
Chipstone Foundation 1952.30