This exhibition showcases more than 100 illustrations from the East and West. It traces the history of the illustration of medicinal plants from ancient hand-drawn manuscripts and picture books to woodcut illustrations to modern prints. It demonstrates the history of using images to identify and recognize plants, as well as the history of medicinal herbs. It is valuable to the study on history of medicine. It also gives the general public the opportunity to perceive history and reflect on the relationship between knowledge and images, the textual and the visual, and humans and nature. In chronological order, the exhibition brings together the originals or photocopies of Chinese and foreign medicine books, including “De Materia Medica,” ” The Garden of Health (Hortus Sanitatis）,” ” The Cliff Walker’s Materia Medica,” ” The Famine Relief Herbal,” ” Herbarum Vivae Eicones,” “Medicinal Plants,” ” An Illustrated Study of the Names and Facts of Plants,” etc.
