Existing comment:
Ewer in the form of an ostrich and basin
ca. 1689–92
Ewer by Marx Weinold German
These vessels show how Renaissance knowledge of exotic animals blended observed behaviors with symbolic associations. The horseshoe grasped in the beak of the ewer by Hans Clauss I refers to the birds' supposed ability to digest iron, which was viewed as a metaphor for strength. Marx Weinhold and Johann Mittnacht I engaged another heavily symbolized aspect of ostrich behavior: the sunburst pattern on the basin refers to the belief that the animals' eggs were incubated not by their body heat, but by the sun, an idea Renaissance scholars associated with the Immaculate Conception. |