Flax Plant of New Zealand
1777
Engraving on paper
370 x 225mm
Plate No. XXIII from James Cook, A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World (London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777). Other plates from the series can be viewed here.
This engraving depicts the harakeke (Phormium tenax) or New Zealand flax. It is probably after a drawing by Johann Georg Adam Forster or William Hodges, but might otherwise be after a drawing by Sydney Parkinson from Cook’s first voyage.
Provenance
2025–
Fletcher Trust Collection, purchased from Art + Object, Tāmaki Makaurau, 9 December 2025, lot 94
?–2025
Unknown