… illustration, by Al-Jazari
This is one of many whimsical illustrations from the ancient Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Inventions by Turkish artist Al-Jazari. I’ll be featuring more pages from this book from time to time. It’s a treasure trove of wonder.
The Elephant Clock, from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Inventions, 1206, by Al Jazari. Image from Wikiart
I love the corgi-elephant!!
There’s a lot of art that is ${animal} painted by someone who has never actually seen ${animal} and some of it is quite funny. Like the Japanese flat-head tiger.
I wonder if aliens excavate the ruins of Earth after we’ve wiped ourselves out, and they find a Picasso from his cubist period and conclude that humans had overlords with weird eye arrangements.
Also that bird is awfully big relative to the elephant.