Monday, September 29, 2008

Nepal Horse Book

Nepal Horse Book (cover)


Nepal Horse Book cover (detail) 1


Nepal Horse Book cover (detail)


Nepal Horse Book


Nepal Horse Book a


Nepal Horse Book b


Nepal Horse Book b (detail)


Nepal Horse Book c


Nepal Horse Book d


Nepal Horse Book e


Nepal Horse Book f


The Royal Library in Denmark have a manuscript that they call 'Illustrated work with horses from Nepal' among their Oriental digitized visual art site. The book is presented in a good quality flash site (about 50 pages) and you get a bigger viewing field if you enlarge the browser (unlike many other flash zoomers).

All of the images above were spliced together from screencaps. I've touched up that final image to remove some pencil markings, but left all the others as found.

There appears to be no background information available on this work, even in the Danish section of the site. I have no idea when this manuscript was produced -- even a rough guess would need to cover a few hundred years, say 17th, 18th or 19th centuries perhaps??

The devanagari script makes no sense to my hindi-speaking mate, so presumably it is written in Nepali.

If anyone knows anything more or can find any information about this work, please let us know by either commenting or dropping me a line (peacay AT gmail DOT com).

UPDATE: Christies listed an item a couple of years ago that is either a copy or a derivative work:
"A Treatise on the Nature and Illnesses of Horses, Asvasastra
Nepal, 18th Century
Leporello manuscript on composite native paper, stained yellow on one side, 6 to 9 line of Newari script in black ink, with 32 miniatures of horses, 19 half-page illustrations on the yellow side and 13 on the white side, 22ff."
(I think leporello means folded paper like an accordian) THANKS Tonya!

Friday, September 26, 2008

Knight's Tournament Book

medieval tournament - knights jousting


knights jousting tournament


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p25


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p27


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p29


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p31


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p37


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p39


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p41


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p49


tournament book jousting


medieval knights jousting


jousting tournament


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p69


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p73


Turnierbuch Ritterspiele p71


'Turnierbuch. Ritterspiele gehalten von Kaiser Friedrich III. und Kaiser Maximilian I. in den Jahren 1489 - 1511 - BSB Cod.icon. 398' is online at MDZ. [Link updated July 2013]

~(Tournament book. Knight games held by Emperor Frederick III & Emperor Maximilian I between 1489 and 1511)

The bright, colourful tunics and horse covers make this anonymous manuscript from the mid-1550s an eye-catching delight. There is background information available for the keen (in German) [translation]. All of the above images (which are about half or less of the total) have been modestly spot/stain cleaned.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Heart For Art's Sake

"It cannot be denied that one emblem is easy, another difficult; one good and penetrating, the other bad and simple; one to be interpreted as one thing, another pointing to many different matters. The best are, in my opinion, those in the middle that are neither much too high, nor much too low; that can certainly be understood, but do not immediately lie open to all and sundry." [ Georg Philipp Harsdörffer]


Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer -  (emblem book title page 1654)


Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00094
Mein Hertz ist ein Pollet ünd trägt der Farben viel
Mein Freüd ist Pinselart, ünd mischt sie wie er will.

My heart is a pallet and carries colors many
My joy is brush art and mixes them as it will

The colorful Heart (adjacent text)

"The Artists' Commendation"
"When once upon a time on Parnassus the famous artists wished that a memory of their miracle-work might be preserved in the temple of eternity, such petition was answered with merciful compliance: Albrecht Dürer / Michael Angelo / Tician / Sandrad / Merian and many others have adorned the walls with their paintings and most intellectual inventions and artificially* preserved and delightfully decorated the appearance of many decaying things."
*(with a play on Künstler - "artist" - and künstlich - "artificial")

"Zeno, founder of Stoic philosophy, engaged in this and said that the heart of man is the right temple of eternity, which should become the most handsomely adorned with images of the virtues. The heart, said he, is shaped like a painter's pallet; all manner of colors are on it, and art consists of the same masterly use and for the application (? "Werkbringung") of the high colors of virtue and the dark shadows of vice. Apollo hereupon gave this response: That both (these) should be together, a wise man's house should be adorned with beautiful paintings, his heart though with comely virtues."



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00166
Die Hoffnung führet mich gen Himmel von der Erden,
Die Hoffnung welche läßt niemals zu schanden werden.

Hope leads me from earth toward heaven,
The hope that never lets one come to ruin.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00174
Mein Herz daß ist zu Gott auff Erden stets gericht,
Und weiset seinen Schatz wann es der Todt Zerbricht.

My heart – that is on earth ever aimed at God,
And shows its treasure when Death shatters it.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00198


Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00206
Mein tief verwundes Herz kan niemals werden heil,
Dar micht der kalte Brand folgt nach den liebes Pfeil.

My deeply wounded heart can never become whole (i.e. heal),
For after the arrow of Love follows the cold fire.
[ding!]



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00214
Was man mir anvertraut bleibt in des Herzens thür
Verschlossen und gewies Verschwigen für und für.

What one entrusts to me remains locked in my heart’s
Door and surely kept in silence for ever and ever.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00242
So leicht der leichte Wind umbtreibt daß Kinderspiel,
So leichtlich wendet sich mein Herz von seinem Ziel.

As lightly as the light wind pushes round the children’s toy,
So lightly turns my heart from its goal.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00302
Mein herz tracht nach dem Ruhm den Kunst und Bücher bringen.
Ich will mich durch den fleiß bis an die Wolcken schwingen.

My heart seeks the glory that skill and books bring.
With diligence, I want to vault up to the clouds.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00322
Mein Herz führt diesen Spruch: Todt, oder ehrlich Leben,
Es kan mir auch der Todt den Ehren Namen geben.

My heart keeps this saying: Death, or honest life,
Even Death can give me a noble name.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00334
Mann meinet meine sach sei mir nach wunsch geglückt
Ach nein, ich weiß allein wo mich der schue trückt.

People think my business has succeeded as I wished.
Alas no, I alone know where my shoe pinches me.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer emblem book- 00366
Mir hat der Meuchel Neid die Brillen aufgesteckt,
Daß meines Nechstens Glück mich oftermals Erschreckt.

Treacherous Envy has put glasses on me,
So that my neighbor’s luck often terrifies me.



Stechbüchlein - Harsdörffer - 00390
Was ich im Herzen hab, das sag ich mit dem Munde.
Wer mein gesicht betracht, schaudt meines Herzens grunde.

What I have in my heart, that say I with my mouth.
Who looks upon my face, sees the bottom of my heart.



emblem book - allegorical imagery



Known generally as 'Das erneurte Stamm- und Stechbüchlein', the long title form of this fairly orthodox emblem book from 1654 translates as:

'The Revised Compendium and Engraving Booklet [with] hundreds of spiritual and secular heart seals/mirrors for a particular illustration of the Virtues and Vices presented and explained with hundreds of poetic conceits by Fabian Athyrus, devout in the praiseworthy Intellectual Arts'

The current academic belief has it that Fabian Athyrus is a pseudonym for the German Baroque poet and emblem fancier, Georg Phillip Harsdörffer. This recent post - The Odd Baroque - gives some background (and more odd pictures) about Harsdörffer's interesting role in championing German literature during the 17th century.

The present work is a collection of moral emblems in which the recurring symbolic motif in the figura is a heart. As the title indicates, the collection seeks to advise the reader about vices and virtues in life and does so in a visual sense by displaying variations of a picture of the heart - which might be taken to be, say, the spiritual wellbeing or goodness of a person, as it still often is today - in a series of contexts that convey an overall allegorical message. The emblems are augmented by a motto and accompanying written elaboration.

The majority of emblem books were published in the 16th and 17th centuries with the first being Andrea Alciato's 'Emblematum Liber' in 1531. More than six hundred authors were responsible for the publication of more than six thousand emblem books in Europe, when re-releases and translations are taken into account. They cover a vast amount of subject matter and their complexity and diversity have ensured they provide a deep well for ongoing scholarly research. The chart below (© Peter M Daly) gives some indication of both the antecedents and complicated references associated with Alciato's book, which served as a model for subsequent permutations of the genre.
Biography of Georg Phillip Harsdörffer from Encyclopaedia Britannica:
"German poet and theorist of the Baroque movement who wrote more than 47 volumes of poetry and prose and, with Johann Klaj (Clajus), founded the most famous of the numerous Baroque literary societies, the Pegnesischer Blumenorden (“Pegnitz Order of Flowers”).

Of patrician background, Harsdörfer undertook university studies and an extended Bildungsreise (“educational journey”) through England, France, Italy, and the Netherlands. In 1632 he became a junior judge in Nürnberg and in 1655 a member of the town senate. His poetry, typical of the Baroque movement, is characterized by elaborate and sometimes playful rhetoric and exaggerated poetic forms. He laid particular emphasis, in his poetry and in his theoretical work, on Klangmalerei (“painting in sound”).

His most famous theoretical work, a handbook for Baroque poets, is ironically titled 'Poetischer Trichter, die Teutsche Dicht- und Reimkunst, ohne Behuf der lateinischen Sprache, in VI Stunden einzugiessen' (1647–53; “A Poetic Funnel for Infusing the Art of German Poetry and Rhyme in Six Hours, Without Benefit of the Latin Language”). Widely read in its time was 'Frauenzimmer Gesprech-Spiele' (1641–49; “Women’s Conversation Plays”), which, like many of his works, had a didactic purpose. It consists of eight dialogues aimed at teaching women all they need to know to become useful members of society. His 'Pegnesisches Schäfergedicht' (1644; “Pegnitz Idyll”), written with Klaj and modeled on the English poet Sir Philip Sidney’s Arcadia, did much to spread the fashion of pastoral drama. Harsdörfer also translated works from French, Spanish, and Italian."

Schematic Chart of the Relation of Emblem to Its Precursors

Monday, September 22, 2008

Micro-Crustaceans

Nebalia bipes (m) detail a


Nebalia bipes (phyllocarida) detail


Nebalia bipes (m) detail


Limnadia lenticularis detail


Limnetis brachyura b detail


Polyartemia forcipata detail


Polyartemia forcipata a detail


Polyartemia forcipata detail 1


Branchinecta paludosa a detail


Branchinecta paludosa a detail 1


Branchinecta paludosa b detail


Lepidurus glacialis (plate)


Branchinecta paludosa (plate)


Lepidurus glacialis a


Limnetis brachyura


Limnadia lenticularis b


There can never to be too many aliens.

'Fauna Norvegiae' [1896] is online at the Universities of Strasbourg Digital Old Books site (click 'See digitalized document' then the folder icon top left for thumbnail pages. Illustrations are at the back of the book.)

The book's author and illustrator was Georg Ossian Sars, a zoologist and taxonomist from Norway. The book references phyllocarida and phyllopoda as subtitles, which are these days within the taxonomic Classes of Malacostraca and Branchiopoda, from the Subphylum Crustacea.

One of these days I'll get around to adding a 'micro' tag to the delicious links.