The Beitang collection, heritage of the 17th-18th century Jesuit library in Beijing, housed in the National Library of China, contains a copy of Mattioli’s commentary on Dioscorides (1568 Italian edition) bearing extensive annotations in Chinese. Two hundred odd plant and animal names in a Northern Chinese patois were recorded alongside illustrations, constituting a rare record of 17th century Chinese folk knowledge and of Sino-Western interaction in the field of natural history. Based on close analysis of the annotations and other contemporaneous sources, we argue that the annotations were probably made in Beijing by one or more Chinese low-level literati and Jesuit missionaries during the first two decades of the 17th century. We also conclude that the annotations were most likely destined to a Chinese audience, to whom the Jesuits intended to display European craftsmanship using Mattioli’s illustrations. This document probably constitutes the earliest known evidence of Jesuits’ attempt of transmitting European art of natural history drawing to China.