These full-page watercolours come from a 16th-century edition of Dioscorides's De Materia Medica, the herbal medicine text by the Greek physician and botanist who lived around 40 to 90 AD. Dioscorides is often called the father of pharmacology, and his five-volume book was translated and used for centuries. The images appear in Pietro Andrea Mattioli's expanded version, which added around one hundred new plants. They were painted between 1564 and 1584 by the Italian artist and botanist Gherardo Cibo, who shows the plants centre stage against landscaped backgrounds. The pictures are notable for their beauty and their resemblance to later botanical art.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.