Explore the Controversy of this artwork, William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings.
Due to the variable quality of work done by some artists, some drawings have proved difficult to identify. Nonetheless, botanists have identified some of these problematic drawings, one a drawing of a male Raffles's malkoha in which the breast is too yellow. Others which have yet to be identified include a drawing of a climber similar to Smilax. Plate 29 of the collection inscription reads Soogow, probably a misspelling of "saga". However, the drawing shows little resemblance to the latter.
Historians suggest that many of the backdrops of the drawings were copied from drawing manuals. One such example is a drawing of the greater mousedeer, the background of which shows a leafless climber attached to a rock. Some scholars query this, as mousedeer do not live in such rocky habitats. This suggests that either the artists did not visit the habitat of the subject, or, if they did, that they were not particularly observant.
In the book Natural History Drawings: The Complete William Farquhar Collection, Malay Peninsula 1803–1818 an article by Kwa Chong Guan suggest that there were two artist, one usually frames his works as seen in the illustration of the durian and one who does the opposite of the latter. Usually, the artist who draws a frame around his work does show fungi like shaped rocks while the other takes the rocks in its own natural form also the artist who draw frames usually has drawings of trees with its roots spread out while the other has its roots in a clenched like manner.
root durian Malay Smilax Natural History Drawings: The Complete William Farquhar Collection, Malay Peninsula 1803–1818 Raffles's malkoha Malay Peninsula greater mousedeer rock leafless climber saga William Farquhar