Our 2017 calendar features drawings of orchids, in full colour, from our Library’s archives. Most of these are historic paintings commissioned during the tenure of the Gardens’ first director, Henry Ridley, in the period 1888 – 1908. They were drawn by the famous de Alwis brothers, James and Charles, from an accomplished Sri Lankan family of botanical artists spanning three generations.
However, there are three exceptions: first there is the drawing of Spathoglottis aurea by James de Alwis with flowers of hybrids added by Juraimi bin Samsuri to the original image of the whole plant. Second is January’s image of Renanthera matutina by British artist, Jean Kinloch Smith, who was in Singapore from 1947 until 1953 and visited the Gardens one day each week to paint flowers. The third exception is the wonderful image of Singapore’s National Flower, Papilionanthe (Vanda) Miss Joaquim, placed on the cover of the calendar. This image recently commissioned from the Gardens’ current artist, Waiwai Hove.
Dimension: 24.5 x 43.5 cm