Giraffe and Sea Horse in Ancient Art 



Bv C H A K L E S II. E A S T I\I A N 



FIGUEES of ancient Egyptian and also 

 of late fifteenth century representa- 

 tions of the giraffe were published in 

 several numbers of Nature for 1915, and also 

 in the American Museum Journal for the 

 same year. To this series of old-time draw- 

 ings may now be added one from Chinese 

 sources, dating probably from the early 

 Ming period. 



The original is a large unsigned painting 

 in dull colors on silk, executed with consid- 

 erable firmness of style and finish, the trap- 

 pings and figures of the attendants having 

 received especial attention. The general style 

 of the painting and the state of preserva- 

 tion of the fabric and coloring would seem 

 to indicate an antiquity of at least three or 

 four hundred years. In the opinion of the 

 owner, a dealer in Chinese works of art in 

 New York, Mr. A. W. Bahr, the painting is 

 even older. 



Through the kindness of Miss Greene, in 

 charge of the private library of Mr. J. P. 

 Morgan, of NeAv York City, the writer has 

 had the privilege of examining a number of 

 old manuscripts containing animal paintings, 

 among them being one which is probably the 

 earliest known English bestiary, dated 1170. 

 Another is an extremely interesting Persian 

 bestiary of the thirteenth century, which has 

 been briefly noticed by M. Claude Anet in 

 the Burlington Magazine for 1913 (Vol. 

 XXIII, No. 24). Among the admirably 

 drawn colored figures of this Persian manu- 

 script is one of the giraffe, which is strik- 

 ingly like the Chinese painting already re- 

 ferred to. One can hardly escape the con- 

 clusion, on comparing the two pictures, that 

 one has served as a model or general design 

 for the other, and undoubtedly the Persian 

 is the more ancient. The inference appears 

 warranted, therefore, that illustrations of 

 the giraffe and other western animals were 

 introduced into Persia through trade routes 

 as early as the thirteenth century, and thence 

 found their way into China, where they Avere 

 copied by native artists. 



The earliest printed figure of the giraffe 

 appears in the first edition (1486) of the 

 Iter Falcpstinnm, by Bernard de Breyden- 

 bach, who traveled in Persia and Arabia 



during 1482 and the following years. This 

 representation is much less accurately done 

 than the early paintings. The proportions 

 are less true to life, and the animal's head 

 is much like that of a goat, with its beard 

 and rather long horns. The markings in- 

 tended to show color patches, instead of 

 being laid on in more or less regular hex- 

 agonal patterns, as in the case of the two 

 earlier ones, are indicated by irregular dots. 

 The figure, a small one, appears on the 

 game page with those of a crocodile, an 

 ape, a camel, a salamander, and two goats, 

 all, according to the author's statement, 

 faithfully depicted as he saw them in the 

 Holy Land. 



Eeproductions of early figures of the 

 common Mediterranean species of sea horse 

 {Hippocampus) have been published by Prof. 

 Eaymond Osburn in the Zoological Bulletin 

 for March, 1915, and also by the present 

 writer in the Annual Report of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution for the same year. 



It is remarked in the latter of these ar- 

 ticles that no mention is found in Aristotle 

 of this striking form of fish life, and the 

 term Hippocampus was used by the poets of 

 classical antiquity as the name of a sea 

 monster, half horse and half fish, on which 

 sea divinities rode. Nevertheless, the design 

 of the sea horse occurs not infrequently in 

 the plastic arts of Hellenistic civilization, 

 both in Greece and in Italy. The sea horse 

 is figured occasionally also among the island 

 gems, as stated by Fiirtwangler, who figures 

 one of them {Antil^.e Gemmcn, Vol. I, PI. V). 



Figures of animals, including fishes, repre- 

 sented in ancient Grecian vase paintings, 

 have been made the subject of special study 

 by a young French artist, Morin-Jean,i and 

 a compatriot of his, P. H. Boussac, has 

 written interesting articles on fish designs 

 inscribed in ancient Egyptian monuments.^ 



Only one instance is known where the 

 Hippocampus is depicted in ancient works of 

 art from the Nile Valley. The design re- 

 ferred to forms part of a decorative painting 



^ Le dessin des animaiix en Grece, d'apres les 

 s'ases peints. Paris, 1911, p. 262. 



- Les poissons sur les monuments pharaoniques. 

 Le Naturalistn, Vols. XXXI and XXXII, 1909-10. 



489 



