Images of elephants in the book "Symbols and emblemata" (1705)

Abstract

The article examines images of elephants, reproduced several times on various emblems from the book "Symbols and Emblemata", published in 1705 in Amsterdam by decree of Tsar Peter I. The author compares the details of the emblematic engravings, compares them with the accompanying inscriptions. The image of the first emblem from the book of 1705 and the engravings from its main source – the edition of the emblems of Daniel De La Fey of 1691 is also compared. The quality of the two editions is compared. Attention is paid to the images of the elephant and the semantic interpretation of this image in the Old Russian tradition, primarily in the "Physiolog", in comparison with the transformation of the image in Peter's time. Icons and miniatures containing the image of this animal are mentioned. The symbolic likenesses of the elephant found in the Old Russian tradition and taken from the translation of the Greek “Physiolog” are particularly noted. The earliest monument is marked - the relief of St. George's Cathedral in Yuriev Polsky. There is also a later monument of the century – the painted gates of the middle of the XVIII century from the Rostov Kremlin, which have not survived to the present day and are known from photographs of the 1910s by S.M. Prokudin-Gorsky. The images of elephants (as well as other images) on them are taken from the book of 1705.