John Reeves collection
Watercolour painting of a camellia, Camellia japonica, 1812-1831, from the John Reeves collection held in the Museum Library.
The John Reeves collection is one of the most important in the Museum Library. It contains more than 2,000 scientifically important and exquisitely beautiful botanical and zoological paintings commissioned and collected by Reeves while he was working in China from 1812-1831.
Here you can find out about John Reeves, his collection of artwork and its importance to the science of natural history, and examine a selection of the very best images from the collection.
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Reeves in China
Judith Magee, Museum curator of rare books, manuscripts and artwork, tells us about John Reeves and his time in China and introduces his important and famous collection.
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Nature in demand
Sandy Knapp, a scientist in the Museum’s Botany Department looks at the importance of the John Reeves collection in documenting the natural world.
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Illustrating and classifying
James Maclaine, a fish curator at the Museum, examines the importance of Reeves’ watercolours to the description and classification of fish.
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A modern response to the John Reeves collection
The Museum’s first international artist-in-residence for the Images of Nature gallery, a contemporary artist from Shanghai in China, talks about the illustrations and images in the John Reeves collection.
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Reeves watercolours
Explore a selection of Reeves watercolours that show the diversity of species and the accuracy and beauty of the work of Chinese artists in the 1800s.
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New Chinese art book
Enjoy beautiful natural history art from the Museum’s own collections, in our new book Chinese art and the Reeves Collection.
The book brings together some of the finest examples of Chinese natural history drawings, many of which have never before been published. It accompanies a temporary display in the Museum’s unique new Images of Nature gallery.