Credit: © The Royal Society
Image number: RS.10449
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An ‘Ethiopian dragon’
Date
1640
Creator
Unknown, Engraver
Object type
Library reference
24768
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 210mm
width (print): 340mm
width (print): 340mm
Subject
Description
Plate showing the ‘Draco Aethiopicus’ (Ethiopian dragon).
From the book Serpentum et draconum historiae [Natural History of Snakes and Dragons] by Ulisse Aldrovandi (Bologna, 1640).
From the book Serpentum et draconum historiae [Natural History of Snakes and Dragons] by Ulisse Aldrovandi (Bologna, 1640).
Object history
Ulisse Aldrovandi, or Aldrovandus (1522-1605) was an Italian naturalist and specimen collector, whose ‘cabinet of curiosities’ was one of the most impressive examples of this type of early museum collection. In the Serpentum et draconum historiae, published posthumously, Aldrovandi combined detailed descriptions of real snakes with more fanciful accounts of creatures related to him by merchants and travellers
Associated place