In exchange for exotic specimens Albert
Seba offered medicines and treatments to sailors and other
travelers returning to Amsterdam from far-flung journeys.
After his death, his family sold his natural history collection
to fund completion of its catalog. In this frontispiece
portrait he holds a jar containing a preserved snake;
specimens line the shelves behind him. He points to shells
on a table, on which also lie loose sheets of drawings
and a bound volume. His pose calls attention to the process
of creating the published books that would preserve his
collection for posterity. Indeed, years later Carl von
Linné frequently used the catalog in his work devising
the taxonomic system for plants and animals still in use
today.
