Butterflies have appeared in art from 3500 years ago in ancient Egypt. In the ancient Mesoamerican city of Teotihuacan, the brilliantly coloured image of the butterfly was carved into many temples, buildings, jewellery, and emblazoned on incense burners. The butterfly was sometimes depicted with the maw of a jaguar, and some species were considered to be the reincarnations of the souls of dead warriors. The close association of butterflies with fire and warfare persisted into the Aztec civilisation; evidence of similar jaguar-butterfly images has been found among the Zapotec and Maya civilisations.
Butterflies are widely used in objects of art and jewellery: mounted in frames, embedded in resin, displayed in bottles, laminated in paper, and used in some mixed media artworks and furnishings. The Norwegian naturalist Kjell Sandved compiled a photographic Butterfly Alphabet containing all 26 letters and the numerals 0 to 9 from the wings of butterflies.
Alice meets the caterpillar. Illustration by Sir John Tenniel in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, c. 1865
Sir John Tenniel drew a famous illustration of Alice meeting a caterpillar for Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, c. 1865. The caterpillar is seated on a toadstool and is smoking a hookah; the image can be read as showing either the forelegs of the larva, or as suggesting a face with protruding nose and chin. Eric Carle’s children’s book The Very Hungry Caterpillar portrays the larva as an extraordinarily hungry animal, while also teaching children how to count (to five) and the days of the week Reference: Wikipedia
This category has information on various types of butterfly including information and price guide to antiques which depict the butterflies.
Adonis Blue Butterflies. The Adonis blue (Lysandra bellargus, also known as Polyommatus bellargus) is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in the Palearctic ecozone (Western Europe, Central…
Swallowtail butterflies. Swallowtail butterflies are large, colorful butterflies in the family Papilionidae, and include over 550 species. Though the majority are tropical, members of the family inhabit every continent except…
Peacock butterflies. The Peacock Butterfly or Aglais io, is a colourful butterfly, found in Europe and temperate Asia as far east as Japan. It was formerly classified as the only…