A Creeper in the Peradeniya Gardens, Ceylon

c. 1880

A Creeper in the Peradeniya Gardens, Ceylon, c. 1880. Scowen & Co. (British, active Ceylon, 1876–1895). Albumen print from glass plate negative; image: 27.7 x 21.5 cm (10 7/8 x 8 7/16 in.); paper: 27.7 x 21.5 cm (10 7/8 x 8 7/16 in.); mounted: 29.3 x 23 cm (11 9/16 x 9 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Barbara Timmer 2018.37 The extravagant baroque curves of this vine were shot in what are now known as the Royal Botanical Gardens. With origins as far back as 1371, the gardens were formally established by the colonial government in 1843 using European plants from Kew Garden in London and native specimens from Slave Island, Colombo, and the Kalutara Garden in Kalutara. Ceylon is now the nation of Sri Lanka.