The “Roosje van Catolijn” is a tulip from a series of seven tulips, based on the tulip illustrations from the Tulip Book of P. Cos.
This tulip book provides a beautiful representation of various tulip varieties from the heyday of the Tulipmania in the 17th century.
The “Roosje van Catolijn” is not known from the historical documents of the Tulipmania outside of P. Cos’s tulip book. This adds a mysterious edge to the tulip; we have no knowledge of the tulip beyond the pages of this book.
A fascinating detail is that the name of the tulip is indicated on the page with an image of a small rose (roosje) at the base of the tulip. It seems to suggest that this tulip had a subtle beauty, perhaps less striking than some of its more flamboyant counterparts, but no less appreciated.
The portrait of “Roosje van Catolijn”, from the collection ‘Ninetynine Tulips’, serves as the inspiration for the 99 ‘Catolijn’ NFT tulips. The theme for the “Roosje van Catolijn” NFT tulips is ‘rose and tulip hybrid’, where the typical features of the tulip and rose are blended into a hybrid flower.
Ninetynine Tulips 