•D2520. Small Manganese and Blue Jar

Delft, circa 1680

Indistinctly marked

Painted on the ovoid body with a continuous scene with an elephant in a landscape of shrubbery, rocks and a pine tree, its trunk raised as it moves toward two seated figures.

DIMENSIONS
Height: 14 cm. (5.5 in.)

NOTE
The elephant depicted on this jar symbolizes the fascination with exotic animals that captivated Europe from the 16th to 18th centuries. Prints and drawings from this period provide a glimpse into a time when traders and explorers were uncovering new lands and cultures, sparking widespread curiosity about “the exotic.” This fascination spread across all social classes, from city dwellers to rural populations. Exotic animals, in particular, became status symbols, with aristocrats and rulers often maintaining private zoos to display their collections.

Elephants, a prime example of these exotic animals, were not only the subject of prints and drawings but also appeared on Delft faience, as this jar illustrates. This particular elephant is not merely a representation of fascination with the exotic, it is also based on a print of an elephant created to commemorate a historic event in Antwerp in 1563. On September 24 of that year, an elephant named Emanuel passed through the city. Emanuel, originating from Ceylon or India, was gifted by Catherine of Austria to her Spanish grandson Don Carlos in 1562. Later, he was acquired by Emperor Maximilian II. Emanuel traveled by sea to Antwerp and then journeyed on foot, accompanied by his Indian mahout, who rode the elephant holding an elephant hook, passing through Cologne and Olmutz, to reach Maximilian’s menagerie at Kaiser Ebersdorf in Vienna. Due to fears of pirate attacks, sea transport was deemed too risky. Emanuel lived until at least 1577.

When Emanuel crossed Antwerp, artist Gerard van Groeningen (also known as Paludanus) seized the opportunity to sketch him in various poses. Though the original sketches have been lost, prints based on van Groeningen’s design remains. One of this print depicts eight elephants in lifelike poses within a landscape, with the largest elephant facing left, closely resembling the one shown on Jan Mollyns’ pamphlet, published that same year (British Museum, London: inv. no. 1928-3-10-97). The print includes an eight-line Latin inscription by Antwerp’s city physician, Hugo Favolius, which reveals that the elephant was a state gift. Another is depicted in Jan Pluis, ‘Dieren op tegels’, Lochem, 1974, p. 20, showing a selection four elephants that also occur on the one with eight elephants. Both prints show the model which is used on this jar.
The people of Antwerp were undoubtedly thrilled to witness such an extraordinary animal. Chronicles of the time describe Emanuel as approximately nine years old and record him as a heavy drinker with a particular fondness for wine. According to legend, his love of wine once rendered him unconscious for 24 hours.