A Global History of The Pineapple
This project explores the pineapple plant as a colonial enterprise, alongside material exchange, scientific development, knowledge distribution, and visual representation. This project attempts to delineate the cultural landscape of the pineapple around the world, to articulate how this exotic species has reshaped human cultures since its first appearance as a symbol of nobility and artistry. From then on, this tiny plant has permeated into every aspect of society, drawing together an integrated network. Accordingly, the symbolic meaning of the pineapple is becoming broader and denser.
I. Pineapple: The Name
Pine of the Indies & Ananas
"In 1496, when Christopher Columbus was returning from his second voyage to the Americas, he brought back a consignment of pineapples [from the island of Guadeloupe] ... It produced enough of an impression for Peter Martyr, tutor to the Spanish princess, to record the first tasting: 'The most invincible King Ferdinand relates that he has eaten another fruit brought from those countries. It is like a pinenut in form and color, covered with scales, and firmer than a melon. Its flavor excels all other fruits.'" [Nina Sophia-Miralles, "How Pineapples Became a Status Symbol." (2018).]
It is said that Columbus was alleged to name the fruit, calling it the "pine of the Indies" due to its resemblance to a pine cone. However, people at that time preferred to call it Ananas, which derived from nana, a Tupi term for the fruit, meaning “excellent fruit.” [James Hunt, “Why Is A Pineapple Called A Pineapple?”]
Pineapple & Bromelia
"According to etymological sources, the English word pineapple was first applied to the fruit in 1664, but that didn’t end the great pineapple versus ananas debate." [James Hunt, “Why Is A Pineapple Called A Pineapple?”] Till today, this exotic plant is still called "pineapple" in English, and "Ananas" in Dutch and German.
The first botanical description of cultivated pineapple was by Charles Plumier at the end of the 17th century. At that time, he created the genus Bromelia for the plant called karatas in honor of the Swedish physician Olaf Bromel. Plumier also described Ananas as Ananas aculeatus fructu ovato, carne albida.
Later in 1753, Carl Linnaeus, a famous Swedish botanist and zoologist who is known as the "father of modern taxonomy," in his Species Plantarum (1753) designated the pineapple as Bromelia ananas and Bromelia comosa.
Nobility & Artistry
Historically, this exotic plant has been a synonym for nobility and artistry since its first introduction by Columbus in 1496. Before the advent of the hot water heating system in 1816 and the mature of hothouse techniques, producing a crop of tropical fruit, such as the pineapple, in the colder climes of Europe was a remarkable achievement. Therefore, the pineapple was recognized as a representation of wealth and power, as well as a testimony to gardeners’ skill and experience at that time.
According to Bethan Bell's writing for the BBC News, the 1807 Proceedings of the Old Bailey showed several cases for pineapple theft. Mr. Godding was one mentioned in the case and was sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for stealing seven pineapples.
Meanwhile, the pineapple has been recognized as a Christian symbol since 1681 in the religious field: pineapple finials atop public buildings was a mimic of the pinecones on Roman buildings. One example can be the gilt copper pinials atop the southwest and southeast towers of St. Paul's Cathedral mentioned in the later section "The Architecture."
Accordingly, it could make more sense why the right illustrated rhymes-teaching sheet in the late 19th century's Netherlands picked the pineapple as a representation of the word "Vrucht" [fruit].
Nobility & Artistry
The pineapple is also a featured symbol in the literature field. In Charles Dickens’ novel David Copperfield, the protagonist himself was fascinated by the pineapple he saw in Covent Garden Market.
"... or I have strolled, at such a time, as far as Covent Garden Market, and stared at the pineapples."
Section of Phoebus Levin's Covent Garden Market (1864). See original image from Wikimedia Commons .
In Andrew Marvell 1650s' poem, Bermudas, he wrote that "But apples plants of such a price, No trees could ever bear them twice" (line 23 & 24). It is still a debate whether the ‘apples’ of line 23 are apples or pineapples. Michael Olmert in his article The Hospitable Pineapple interprets these two lines as "each pineapple plant gives up its own life to produce a single fruit, a sacrifice." While scholars with the opposite opinion point out that "the former seems more apposite in the light of the poem’s religious themes, and furthermore pineapples don’t grow on trees – although Marvell might not have known that."
In a television adaptation of Jane Austen's unfinished Regency novel Sanditon, Lady Denham's grand luncheon has a pineapple in pride of place. Also, it is said that if you have watched the Sanditon, you will be vaguely familiar with the Regency pineapple. Moreover, a contemporary writer even reproduced a novel paragraph based on the context of Jane Austen's 1813 Pride and Prejudice:
“A pine-apple!” exclaimed Lady Catherine de Bourgh. “We are so looking forward to it! Anne is excessively fond of pine-apple, are you not, Anne?” ...... The pine-apple had been hired for the dinner-party; it was to be returned to the fruiterer’s on the following day, after it had graced the table as a center-piece. Or so they had planned. Pine-apples cost a guinea apiece, and they certainly could not afford to eat one.
In addition to Sanditon, Austen also has a lengthy mention of pineapples in Northanger Abbey; a pretentious, wealthy general boasts about his hothouse pineapples.
II. Pineapple: The Map
World Distributions in the 16th and 17th centuries
Since Columbus's introduction of the pineapple into the European countries, this exotic fruit species rapidly found its position in the European World, especially by the elite and noble class. How to cultivate this tropical fruit became a challenge, but also a representation of nobility for the European concerning their geographical climate. Meanwhile, with the great control over colonies in the 16th and 17th centuries, the Portuguese and the Spanish started to carry the pineapple around the world, mainly from its native areas of Brazil, Paraguay, and the Caribbean to other tropical regions. Through this imperial colonialism, the Europeans were able to enjoy the matured fruit at their dinner table.
Pineapple Distribution Map by the Dutch, Spanish, and Portuguese in the 16th and 17th Century. Diagram created by author.
Brazil (Native)
Pineapples had their origin in Brazil and Paraguay, but were carried north by Native Americans before 1492. Pineapples were well distributed in coastal Mexico and throughout the West Indies.
St Helena, 1505 (PT)
Pineapple was introduced by the Portuguese from Brazil to St. Helena in 1505.
Madagascar, 1548 (PT)
Pineapple was introduced by the Portuguese from Brazil to Madagascar in about 1548.
Southern India, 1550 (PT)
Pineapple was introduced by the Portuguese from Brazil to Southern India, somewhere closes to the south Maharashtra in 1550.
Manila, 1565 (ES)
Pineapple was introduced by the Spanish from Acapulco in Mexico to Manila in the Philippines in 1565 through its famed Pacific transit.
Macao, 1594 (PT)
Pineapple was introduced by the Portuguese from Brazil to China through the Portuguese colony of Macao in 1594.
Java, 1599 (ES)
Once the pineapple settled in the Philippines, the Spanish moved the species to Java by 1599.
Guinea, 1602 (PT)
Pineapple was introduced by the Portuguese from Brazil to Guinea in 1602. At that time, Portuguese Guinea on the West African coast was a center of the slave trade.
Singapore, 1637 (ES)
Once the pineapple settled in the Philippines, the Spanish moved the species to Singapore by 1637.
Taiwan, 1650 (ES)
Once the pineapple settled in the Philippines, the Spanish moved the species to Taiwan by 1650.
Cape of Good Hope, 1660 (NL)
Pineapple was introduced by the Dutch from Java to Cape of Goof Hope in 1660.
Assam, Burma and Thailand, 1700 (ES)
Since the pineapple settled in the Philippines, the Spanish moved the species to Assam, Burma and Thailand by 1700.
Hawaii, 1813
Spanish ship pilot, Don Francisco de Paula Marin, introduced several crops he believed could thrive in the tropical and subtropical climates of Hawaii in 1813, which included the pineapple.
Queensland, 1838
Lutheran missionaries introduced the pineapple from India to Australia in 1838 and it now grows predominantly along the coast of Queensland. The first commercially successful crop of pineapples was grown at Woombye in 1895. Later in 1971, the Big Pineapple was built in Woombye.
Netherlands: A Regional Pineapple Distribution Hub in Europe
Though the Dutch did not engage primarily in the introduction of the pineapple into other tropical countries in the 16th and early 17th century. In the late 17th century and 18th century, with the establishment of Dutch East India Company (VOC,1602-1798) and Dutch West Indies Company (WIC,1621-1792), the Dutch not only satisfied their domestic pineapple demands but also acted as a central pineapple fruit hub for other European countries in the late 17th century. According to Michael Olmert, the pineapple was cultivated for the European market in the Dutch Surinam by the 17th century.
Potential Dutch pineapple flows in the late 17th century. Diagram created by the author.
The diagram above shows potential flows of mature pineapple fruits from Dutch colonies to the Netherlands. The six temporal points are framed by the author based on historic events: 1621 is the time when the Dutch West Indies Company was established; in 1630, the Dutch captured the towns of Recife, Olinda, and Pernambuco as their Brazilian colonies; these colonies was retaken by the Portuguese in the 1650s; Guinea became the most important Dutch colony in West Africa since 1637; 1660 is the time when the pineapple was introduced to the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch from Java; In about 1687, Agnes Block firstly brought a pineapple to fruit on her estate at Vijverhof, Netherlands.
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The Transportation of The Pineapple
The pineapple was extremely difficult to transport due to the slow and hot voyage from the Caribbean to Europe (and later the American Colonies), which exaggerated and consolidated the celebrity and nobility meanings of the pineapple. However, after the arrival of steamships in the early 1800s, the symbolic meaning of the pineapple decreased and became moot.
In addition to the steamship, the invention of the Wardian case also contributed to overseas transportations of the pineapple. Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward first introduced this discovery in his book On the Growth of Plants in Closely Glazed Cases in 1842. With the help of this terrarium-like, glazed and sealed glass box, plants could survive over the long journey even without watering. Accordingly, this period witnessed an influx of exotic plants far from tropical areas of the globe back to Europe, including the matured pineapple fruit. Also, numerous pineapple varieties were set out later from Kew to the world, including Durban botanic gardens, Ceylon, Jamaica, and West Africa. In 1854, the Director of the Peradeniya Botanic Garden in Ceylon recorded in the year report that "The new varieties of pineapple plants received from Kew some months ago are thriving well."
Plan of H.M.S. Bounty. Reproduced from Bligh, W. (1792) A Voyage to the South Seas, George Nicol, 12.
One crazy experiment for plant transportation before arrivals of the steamship and the Wardian case was the H. M. S. Bounty. Joseph Banks proposed this experiment and converted the great cabin of the 215-tonne vessel into a plant nursery with two large skylights and three scuttles for air on each side. The ship voyaged out from Spithead to Tahiti for a British botanical mission, becoming a floating breadfruit plantation after five-month collections in Tahiti.
III. Pineapple: The Cultivation
As aforementioned, it was not until the mid or late 17th century pineapples were grown successfully in a few hothouses in England and the Netherlands with the technological development of hothouses. Besides global and regional exchanges and distributions of the pineapple plant, related cultivation knowledge was also produced and circulated between countries, institutions, and professionals. Accordingly, the cultivation history of pineapple fruits in the hothouse will demonstrate another version of the European technological developments from the 17th century to the 19th century.
The Developments of Hothouses
Hothouse Engraving from Salomon de Caus's Hortus Palatinus (1620), https://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/caus1620/0017.
This experimental hothouse for citrus cultivation was a temporary structure made of timbers. Instead of having the orange trees grown in pots and moved upon the climate, this idea was the opposite. It was having the trees rooted in the ground with structures constructed and deconstructed seasonally around the plants. This approach also stimulated the growth of roots, which, however, was quite unusual in the 17th century. Even in the 19th century, this idea was only found in some small scales for cherries and other trees.
An engraving of the Dutch hothouse in 1700 (Ein holländisches Gewächshaus mit kleinteiliger und nur leicht geneigter Verglasung, um 1700). Image taken by Michael Lee from the exhibition board in the Kitchen Garden at Park Muskau in 2018.
Broomhall in her book Dynastic Colonialism mentions that "pineapples had been associated [with Orangeries] since the 17th century with Dutch overseas territories in Brazil." It is now commonly believed that Agnes Block was the first one who brought a pineapple to fruit on her estate at Vijverhof, Netherlands in about 1687. Since then, many eminent Dutch growers joined this challenge, and Dutch methods of pineapple growing even became the blueprint for Britain after the Glorious Revolution of 1688, as well as all around Europe.
A diagram showing how the Heligan Pineapple Pits work. Image from The Lost Gardens of Heligan website, https://www.heligan.com/news/the-story-of-the-10000-pineapple. Subsequent editions by author.
Later around 1714 to 1716, the first cultivated pineapple in Britain was found in Matthew Decker's Richmond estate by his Dutch grower Henry Telende. In 1720, Decker commissioned the painter, Theodore Netscher, to celebrate this great success . The following period in the 18th century has witnessed many associated inventions in the development of hothouses or stoves, including the use of angled glazing, spirit thermometers, and furnace-heated technique. Since fumes often damaged or killed cultivated plants, a cavity wall with winding hot-air flues inside named "fire wall" was invented by gardeners. Subsequently, the construction of the manure-heated pineapple pit started to provide stable bottom heat for the pineapple, becoming a reliable method for pineapple cultivations in Europe, especially for the British gardeners.
Interiors of the greenhouses of the École Nationale Superieure d'Horticulture in Versailles, France, anonymous, c. 1895 - in or before c. 1900
In the 19th century, with the flourishing of the landscape garden, the rise of industrialization, and the development of agriculture, three achievements of the Victorian period changed pineapple cultivation radically: the inventions of hot water heating in 1816, sheet glass in 1833, and the abolition of the glass tax in 1845. Since then, the glasshouse became a stable and reliable grand structure for pineapple cultivations. Accordingly, a pinery was now a mandatory composition of every Victorian estate kitchen garden. Great Britain also became a favored destination for European elites and even more so for professional gardeners and garden designers.
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Pineapple Court Gardeners to Potsdam
Pineapple Court Gardens to Potsdam
Demo of Drawing Comparisons Between Hothouses in Britain and Germany. Demo created by author via Story Maps.
IV. Pineapple: The Food
This is a detail of a James Gillray cartoon of soldiers eating in a confectioner’s shops, 1797. Image from "The Pot and Pineapple and Gunter’s", janeaustensworld.wordpress.com.
During the colonial period, sweets were not a common item because sugar was a rare, imported commodity, as was fruit. Therefore, the natural sweetness feature of the pineapple made the fruit an item of celebrity and curiosity for royal gourmet and horticulturists alike. This exotic plant is not only an ideal one to enjoy directly as a fruit but also a crucial ingredient for desserts at the elite dinner table.
For example, according to Tafelbücher, a detailed kitchen record of what Prince Pückler ate and served his guests between 1854 and 1871 at his Schloss Branitz, it is clear to see the image of Pückler as an aristocratic bon vivant who cherished the luxury of sugary desserts and ice-cream. Pückler even hired Wilhelm Freschke as his pineapple specialist to ensure enough qualified pineapples for desserts and ice creams as an ingredient on his Branitzer Tafel.
Food historian Ivan Day points out that the pineapple has become a symbol of the confectionary shops in the late 18th-century. At that time, almost every shop had a model one at the window. The image of pineapple was even on its trade cards.
The following section exhibits several pineapple recipes between the 18th and 20th century:
V. Pineapple: The Illustration
With its symbolic nobility and artistry, the pineapple was also a common and widely interpreted motif in the field of visual arts, such as landscape drawing, artist illustration, and plates in travelogues. It is crucial not only to compare how the pineapple is illustrated distinctively in different genres but also to figure out how similar or different this pineapple motif is depicted by the same author but for various agencies and intentions. Accordingly, the symbolic meaning of the pineapple becomes broader than as an aristocrat bon vivant.
Landscape Drawing
Frans Post and his Dutch Colonial Landscape Paintings
From 1630 the Dutch West India Company (WIC) conquered parts of Brazil and ousted the Portuguese based there. The Dutch took over the profitable sugar production. Enslaved Africans worked here under wretched conditions. However, in 1654, the Dutch lost the Brazilian colonies, and this loss somehow transformed the late 17th-century Dutch landscape drawing as a form of nostalgia.
Map of Brazil, Johannes Willemszoon Blaeu, 1735-45. Image from Rijksmuseum.
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Frans Post, the first European artist to paint landscapes of the Americas during and after the period of Dutch Brazil, depicted some motifs repeatedly over decades – such as the six-banded armadillo and the pineapple – as the nostalgic tradition of the late 17th-century Dutch landscape drawing. Further explorations of this particular pineapple motif, mostly in the foreground, might introduce more understandings of this tiny exotic species.
Different from most of Post's Brazilian drawings in the landscape format, this one applies a portrait format. Also, the foreground motifs acted more like a viewing frame for the background sugar plantations, among which the pineapple was at the bottom left. Meanwhile, it is interesting to notice that one of the two commonly used motifs by Frans Post, the six-banded armadillo, was not included in this work. For me, one potential question could be why Post kept drawing the pineapple rather than the six-banded armadillo in this illustration since both of them were common representative motifs for him?
King Frederick William II and his Tahitian Chamber
Twenty years after the discovery of Tahiti, King Frederick William II commissioned the construction of a pastoral pleasure palace on Peacock Island in 1794. With the Otaheitisches Kabinett (Tahitian Chamber), he incorporated the seemingly unattainable exoticism of the South Pacific with painted tropical plants and colorful peacocks.
Two pineapple plants are in the left foreground of this painted landscape. It could be interesting to figure out why the pineapple was recognized as a representation of the Tahitian plant, or this Tahitian landscape drawing was only designed as a general imagination of tropical areas around the world.
Artist Illustration
Maria Sibylla Merian and her Metamorphosis
Maria Sibylla Merian’s Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium illustrated the interactions between plants and insects based on her observations in the Dutch Surinam between 1699 to 1701. The book was first published by Gerard Valck, a Dutch engraver, publisher, and cartographer in 1705.
Merian’s goal was not to create a systematic classification of insects or strict anatomical descriptions but to illustrate the wonders of metamorphoses. Accordingly, the life cycle of the cockroach imaged in Merian's work is an illustration of this metamorphoses, but additionally a particular metaphor for the sweetness of the pineapple.
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Scientific illustration in Neueste und wichtigste Medizinal-Pflanzen
This illustration is from the fourth volume of the collection, Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen, which was announced by the publisher but never released at the time. Thus, the fourth one is an additional volume.
Compared to Merian's illustrations, it is interesting to point out that separate elements are depicted in the image following the scientific requirements. Based on Rosetta S. Elkin's article, I would like to argue that this scientific progress might somehow transform the plant species into an artifact, making it hard for "the plant [to] retain its aliveness in order to collaborate or participate in the research or design process, [as well as to] make itself known" (Elkin, 2018: 126).
Johann Christoph Volkamer and his Nürnbergische Hesperides
Johann Volckamer, a German silk merchant, manufacturer, and botanist, maintained a city garden, Gostenhof, in Nuremberg where he grew citrus and exotic fruits.
Between 1708 and 1714, he published his famous work Nürnbergishe Hesperid, meaning the mythical garden where the golden apples grew. Volkamer combined detailed images of citrus fruits with backgrounds of villas and gardens in Italy and around Nuremberg. The notion was to bring the spirits of botany and travel together in one publication. He also described an old wooden style of the orangery , with the roof insulated with straw and loam.
Johann Volckamer included one section entitled Explanation of the copper belonging to the pineapple , in which he made annotations for five pineapple drawings.
The first drawing mentioned that the pineapple was called sugar-hat and introduced two animals (the hummingbird and cockroach) with three marked letters (A, B, C).
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The second drawing introduced the largest type of produced pineapple at that time. Also, Volkamer introduced the Surinamese spider and the net of the little hummingbird.
The third one showed the fine type of pineapple, which was commonly called Renette.
The fourth drawing demonstrated that by cutting in the middle of the pineapple fruit, the minor sprout is for cultivation.
The fifth one was a wild pineapple species introduced from the Netherlands with distinguishing leaves.
Unknown artists and Album of Chinese watercolors of Asian fruits
This album is currently in the rare book collection of Dumbarton Oaks . Mildred Archer once determined from their style and coloring that the album was most likely painted by a Chinese artist, probably in Malaysia or Sumatra. Archer also dated this album between 1798 and 1810.
This album consists of two parts: the first 12 watercolors depict elaborate arrangements of several fruits, some showing the fruit at various stages of its life cycle, and some fruits peeled, segmented, or cut to reveal their form, surrounded by flowers and foliage. The next ten watercolors show just one fruit per painting, with its flowers, foliage, and seed.
One illustration from the album is a pink pineapple with its segmented part. The style and coloring of this pineapple illustration are quite similar to the one collected in the National Museum of Singapore.
Maria Sibylla Merian and Johann Christoph Volkamer
Comparison between Maria Sibylla Merian and Johann Christoph Volkamer.
The first drawing included in Johann Volkamer's Nürnbergische Hesperides is almost the same as one of Merian's illustrations on the pineapple. In Volkamer's explanation, he mentioned that the pineapple was called sugar-hat and introduced two animals in the illustration with three marked letters (A, B, C). However, Merian only illustrated the life cycle of the cockroach rather than having the top left hummingbird. Accordingly, I would like to argue that for Merian, it is crucial to illustrate the metamorphoses of one particular species with her observations. While for Volkamer, showing as many species as possible was what matters.
Therefore, it makes sense that two youth appearances of the cockroach in Merian's illustration was not included in Volkamer's, while there was an additional foreground landscape in Volkamer's drawing. Meanwhile, the C-marked cockroach in Volkamer's drawing is a reflection in the mirror once compared to Merian's illustration. Noticing the first publication of Merian's work by Gerard Valck in 1705, which was several years earlier than Volkamer's publication (1708-1714), there might be more stories happened around these two publications in terms of the woodblock printing technique.
Illustration in Travelogues
Johan Nieuhof and his Legatio batavica (1668)
This depiction of tropical fruits is from the Dutch traveller Johan Nieuhof (1618-1672). Nieuhof traveled to Brazil in the 1640s and China in the 1650s. He then worked for the Dutch East India Company in the 1660s.
In this illustration, the pineapple plant (Ananas) is situated in its native tropical context, together with native plants and animals, such as the banana tree (labelled as "Musa" in the illustration). Noticing the commercial and ornamental value of "Musa," this illustration might also aim to address the same features of the pineapple plant. According to Annalisa Dass, the pineapple is one of the most important tropical fruits in world production after bananas and citrus fruits.
The same metaphor could be found in the following illustrations by juxtaposing the pineapple with other commercial tropical plants.
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According to Rijksmuseum, this printed illustration was from a reprocessed plate, and the original one was in the travelogue of Cornelis de Houtman to the East Indies in 1595-1597. Similarly, the four species included in this anonymous illustration, mango, date palm, pineapple, and betel nut, all possess high commercial values.
J.H. van Linschoten and Itinerario, voyage or ship voyage of Jan Huygen van Linschoten to East or Portugaels (1596)
This illustration also included several fruit trees and crops with commercial values from the East Indies, such as mango, pineapple, and the cashew apple.
Meanwhile, it is interesting to notice that this illustration included separated fruits as a metaphor for maturation.
Giovanni Antonio Cavazzi da Montecuccolo and his Istorica descrizione de' tre' regni Congo, Matamba et Angola [An Historical Description of Three Kingdoms: Congo, Matamba, and Angola]
In his 1687's publication, Montecuccolo included an illustration of the pineapple. Like Frans Post's landscape drawings, he drew a camaleonte in the foreground with the pineapple for the theme of exoticism.
Also, Montecuccolo illustrated five matured pineapple plants together from one shared root. It is quite uncommon for this species, whose plant could flower only once and produce one fruit. Accordingly, from my perspective, these five fruits might articulate the author's eagerness for unprecedented prosperity. A similar visual representation could be found in Joseph Knapp's publication for archduke Johann in the first half of the 19th century.
Ananas comosus by Joseph Knapp. First half of the 19th century. Courtesy of Österreichische Nationalbibliothek.
William Farquhar and his Collection of Natural History Drawings
A pineapple illustration can be found in the first volume of the William Farquhar Collection of Natural History Drawings. The collection consists of 477 watercolors of flora and fauna that had been painted for William Farquhar when he was the Resident of Malacca between 1803 and 1818. Like previous Montecuccolo's drawing, this illustration even drew several pineapple fruits all on ONE plant.
Gabriela Bettini's El Proceso
Bettini's series El Proceso starts from the collection of botanical illustrations presented in the Marianne North pavilion of the Kew Gardens (London). The gaps and erasures on the canvas mark the erasure of indigenous and local knowledge by Western systems of knowledge in the colonial centuries. One of this series focuses on the pineapple.
VI. Pineapple: The Architecture
In addition to visual arts, the pineapple motif could also be discovered in everyday decorative artifacts, ranging from architectural components to home decorations. In addition to the religious interpretation of the pineapple as a Christian symbol mentioned in the first section ("The Name"), in England's American colonies, the pineapple gradually became a symbol of hospitality, welcome, and warmth, representing the high spirits of family gatherings and social events till today. The pineapple "was, again and again, imprinted, impressed, painted onto, or sculpted on all manners of objects, buildings, fabric, wallpaper, and mementos" (Olmert, 1997-8: 55). Pineapple finials or decorations could be found almost everywhere, including churches, pineries and plantation buildings, villa or park fountains, as well as several historic buildings.
Pineapple finial of Saint Paul'S Cathedral, London, UK
The orangery at Hanbury Hall, England, UK
Pineapple finial atop a church belfry, Roxburgh Parish Church, Scotland, UK
Dunmore House, Scotland, UK
White pineapple finial at Shirley Plantation, Virginia, USA
Pineapple finials on the pediment walls of the Pan-ay Church, Visayas, Philippines
Pineapple-shaped finial at the Park Branitzer's hothouse, Germany
Pineapple finial of the Annapolis Post Office, Maryland, USA
Pineapple finial atop the cupola of the Mother Church, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Pineapple finials of the Manila Cathedral, Manila, Philippines
Pineapple-themed fountain at Robert Mills House in Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Iconic pineapple fountain at the Charleston Waterfront Park, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Pineapple finial of Saint Paul'S Cathedral, London, UK
Since 1681, the pineapple has been recognized as a Christian symbol. Around this time, Christopher Wren began using pineapple finials on churches as imitations of the pinecones on Roman buildings. After the Great Fire of London, Wren was appointed chief architect for the rebuilding of St. Paul's Cathedral, and he managed to get two much smaller pineapples on the cathedral- not on the dome but as gilt copper pinials on the tops of the southwest and southeast towers.
The orangery at Hanbury Hall, England, UK
The orangery and adjoining walls at Hanbury Hall were built around 1750. Its pediment contains a carved basket of fruit, flowers, and wreaths, including the pineapple at the middle top. Also, all the pediments and parapets are surmounted by urn and pineapple finials.
Pineapple finial atop a church belfry, Roxburgh Parish Church, Scotland, UK
The church was built in 1752, repaired in 1828, with additions (including the north aisle) in 1878. The belfry has within the last few years around 2007 been repaired, and the pineapple finial has also been renewed. Since a single pineapple plant will give its life only for a single fruit, thus, Christians believed that the pineapple was a symbol of the Christian faith and used this fruit to identify Christian homes or businesses.
Dunmore House, Scotland, UK
The Dunmore Pineapple was an unusual building even during the great pineapple craze in the eighteenth century. At that time, pineries were possessions to be celebrated, flaunted, and enjoyed. The Dunmore House was built in 1761 for John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore. A fourteen-meter sandstone pineapple was designed for the pineapple hothouse to emphasize its importance.
White pineapple finial at Shirley Plantation, Virginia, USA
In 1771, Charles Carter added a three-and-a-half-foot-tall white pineapple finial to the top of the roof at Shirley Plantation near Williamsburg.
Pineapple finials on the pediment walls of the Pan-ay Church, Visayas, Philippines
The Augustinian church in Pan-ay is adorned with pineapple-shaped finials on the pediment walls. The foundation of the church can be traced to between 1692 and 1698, but the church was completed built in 1774 by Fray Manuel Murguia. Reyes argued in her book Art, Trade, and Cultural Mediation in Asia, 1600–1950 that "pineapple-shaped finals were not simply added for 'exotic' interest, and that their inclusion was closely associated with the highly profitable piña textile industry and paid tribute to a commerce that significantly benefited the island's inhabitants" (Reyes, 2019: 53).
Pineapple-shaped finial at the Park Branitzer's hothouse, Germany
By 1860, numerous other greenhouses had been built, of which the Great Pineapple House is still preserved. Both greenhouses are connected by the domed house or boiler house, which is crowned with a golden pineapple
Pineapple finial of the Annapolis Post Office, Maryland, USA
The historic Annapolis Post Office was built in 1901. In 2020, this 119-year-old finial was restored by craftsmen to bring back some of the ornate details that had fallen off over the past century. The building’s iconic copper pineapple finial was gilded with 23.75 karat double-weight gold to adorn the apex of the cupola and shine brightly over Annapolis’s historic Church Circle again.
Pineapple finial atop the cupola of the Mother Church, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
At the very top of the 35-foot cupola of The Mother Church Extension is a pineapple finial—defined as “a distinctive ornament at the apex of a structure.” The Extension was built between 1904 and 1906 by Charles C. Coveney. The architect recalled that "the finial on the cupola in the earlier studies is a pineapple. In some drawings made during the period of construction, a cross was substituted; in the end, the pineapple form prevailed." Then in 1932, the original limestone and terra cotta finial was replaced with an aluminum one.
Pineapple finials of the Manila Cathedral, Manila, Philippines
The original structure of the Cathedral was built in 1581, and the current structure was completed in 1958 as the eighth one after several damages. However, the pineapple finials were survived in the 1945 bombings, and the recent restoration was finished in 2018. The process included cleaning, filling of cracks, and repair of the damaged crowns.
Pineapple-themed fountain at Robert Mills House in Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Due to its use by educational and religious institutions, the grounds of the Robert Mills House never featured ornamental gardens. After Historic Columbia saved the property in 1960, gardens were created as a combination of an early 1970s landscape design, hallmarks of 19th-century English-style gardens, and the accomplishments of contemporary gardeners.
Iconic pineapple fountain at the Charleston Waterfront Park, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
The Pineapple Fountain has been a focal point of the Charleston Waterfront Park since it opened in 1990. The Pineapple Fountain was created by designers from Sasaki as "a reference to the traditional symbol of hospitality in the south" (Sasaki project website).
VII. Pineapple: The Future
Since this project is still an ongoing work, more information will be updated in the future randomly once new materials are found, especially "The Food" and "The Architecture" section. Additionally, there are several potential topics that I am planning for further exploration as soon as possible.
- I am passionate about collecting more pineapple illustrations and drawings for "The Illustration" section, especially Eastern and South-eastern Asian works, to create a more systematic and inclusive discussion on the visual interpretations and representations of the pineapple plant.
- With the establishment of Dutch East India Company (VOC,1602-1798) and Dutch West Indies Company (WIC,1621-1792), Netherlands came under the spotlight in the 17th and 18th century, as well as its developments of hothouse technologies and Agnes Block's first success in bringing a pineapple to fruit on her estate at Vijverhof, Netherlands. Accordingly, it will be helpful to examine the relationship between Netherlands/ the Dutch and the pineapple more closely, among which the Hortus Botanicus Leiden is a crucial institution to consider.
- The great appreciation and aristocratic symbolism of the pineapple were partly due to its sweetness, so was the sugar. Meanwhile, both the pineapple and the sugar had strong connections to the colonialism and slavery history. Therefore, it will also be thrilling to juxtapose these two agencies for further explorations.
