enslaved person was forced to assist Merian in her research, and the labor of this person enabled interactions she had with the Amerindian and African slaves in the colony who assisted her in researching the plants and animals of Suriname. Merian also took an interest in agriculture and lamented the colonial merchants' resistance to plant or export anything other than sugar. She later showcased the vegetables and fruits that could be found in Suriname, including the pineapple. In June 1701 an illness, possibly malaria, forced her to return to the Dutch Republic. Back in the Netherlands Merian opened a shop. She sold specimens she had collected and her engravings of plant and animal life in Suriname. In 1705, she published a book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium about the insects of Suriname. In 1715, Merian suffered a stroke. Despite being partially paralysed, she continued her work. She died in Amsterdam on 13 January 1717 and was buried four days later at Leidse kerkhof. Although she is sometimes described as dying a pauper, her funeral was a middle-class one with fourteen pall-bearers. Her daughter Dorothea published Erucarum Ortus Alimentum et Paradoxa Metamorphosis, a collection of her mother's work, after Merian's death. Work Botanical art Merian first made a name for herself as a botanical artist. In 1675, she started to publish a three-volume series, each with twelve plates depicting flowers. In 1680 she published Neues Blumenbuch, combining the series. The drawings were decorative and not all were drawn based on observation. Some of the flowers in the three-volume series appear to be based on drawings by Nicolas Robert and her stepfather Jacob Marrel. Merian included insects among the flowers; again she may not have observed them all herself, and some may be copies of drawings by Jacob Hoefnagel. The single flowers, wreaths, nosegays and bouquets in the three volumes would provide patterns for artists and embroiderers. Embroidery was at the time an essential part of the education that privileged young women received in Europe. Copying from other artists was an essential part of an artist's training at the time. Her compositions resemble the compartment style of the scrolling stem embroidery designs that were common in Europe at the time. Butterflies and damselflies interplayed with plants, reflecting the decorative compositions of Hoefnagel. Her subsequent Raupen books would also be used as patterns for paintings, drawings and sewing. Merian also sold hand-coloured editions of the