Indonesia’s flora -- with over 45,000 plant varieties -- is one of the most abundant in the world. Photographer Dennis A-Tjak has been making a name for himself as portraitist of old fl ower varieties from countries that the VOC traded with in the seventeenth and eighteenth century. What fascinates him in these varieties is that some of them have been there for centuries and have been passed on to us from generation to generation. A-Tjak has clearly developed his own style for photographing old flower varieties. His portraits stand out because of their technical perfection. The hyperrealist photographs exude perfection, drama and elegance. They are surprising, sometimes disconcertingly abstract, but every single one of them is delightful to look at. In a historical introduction to A-Tjak’s photographs, Bea Brommer describes how the Dutchmen dove into the study of the Indonesian flora and sometimes devoted their whole lives to botanical research. But also how many of those native plants and flowers were shipped to the Netherlands where they were cultivated in the heated greenhouses of the botanical gardens and estates of wealthy individuals and thus gradually took root in our national flower culture.