Tessera

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)

@animal-aspects.bsky.social

exploring animal depictions in images and words https://animal-aspects.org Head Animal: Deniz (she/they), Art History PhD candidate @ UDel Current projects: animal alphabets; early modern aviaries & bird painters

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Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 24h ago

Art, Illustration, and ZSL www.zsl.org/news-and-eve... via @zslofficial.bsky.social

ZSL | Art, illustration and ZSL

Over the past 200 years ZSL has inspired generations of artists, poets and authors – bringing people closer to nature than ever before.

zsl.org

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

Today is also #AfricanPenguinAwarenessDay! 🚨 The African #Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is an #EndangeredSpecies. Plate by Joseph Smit (1836–1929) from “Report on the birds collected during the voyage of H.M.S. Challenger during the years 1873-76” (1881). commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sp...

digitized scan of a color book plate in portrait orientation, natural history art / scientific illustration: portrait of a standing African Penguin on the shore with colony in background

Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 2w ago

Title page of the book ‘Der monathlich-herausgegebenen Insecten-Belustigung’ by August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof. Published in Nuremberg, 1746-1761. University of Wisconsin-Madison Special Collections. #naturalhistory #insectart #bookhistory #rarebooks

Sarah Finn @romanceofbooks.bsky.social · 5d ago

Beetle chromolithograph from ‘The Intellectual Observer’ periodical published in London in 1863. #naturalhistory #sciart #insectart

Alison Fisk @alisonfisk.bsky.social · 2d ago

Happy weekend! Here’s a 3,500 year-old Minoan clay flask decorated with a wide-eyed octopus! 🐙❤️ From Palaikastro, Crete. Heraklion Archaeological Museum 📷 by me #Archaeology

My photo shows a frontal view of a clay flask with warm-yellow coloured slip with black hand painted decoration depicting an octopus. The octopus is swimming diagonally with eight writhing, sucker-lined arms covering the surface of the flask. It stares out at the viewer with wide, almost cartoon-like eyes. Additional black painted motifs include sea urchins, tritons, small rocks and seaweed. Minoan decoration depicting sea motifs is known by scholars as the 'Marine Style'. The flask measures 27 cm (about 10.5 inches) in height. It has a short spout at the top with a small loop handle at either side and a small base so that it can stand upright.

“Its shape is somewhat unusual, constructed by slipping together, while still leather hard (clay that is not quite dry), two shallow plates which had been made on a fast spinning potter’s wheel and with highly refined clay. The circular bases of these shallow plates are still visible in the center of both sides of the flask” (Smart History article “Octopus Vase” by Dr Senta German https://smarthistory.org/octopus-vase/)

The flask was excavated in 1903 at a Bronze Age settlement site at Palaikastro. The excavations between 1902 and 1906, were run by R. Bosanquet and R.M. Dawkins from the British School of Athens. The flask is part of the collections at Heraklion Archaeological Museum, Heraklion, Crete.

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · 2d ago

Animals on parade! BL Cotton MS Claudius B IV; Old English Hexateuch; ff.49r-49v @blmedieval.bsky.social

Ennius @enniusredloeb.bsky.social · yesterday

Presenting the saturday night camel chorus line! BL Cotton Claudius B IV; Old English Hexateuch; f.39r @blmedieval.bsky.social

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · yesterday

Resharing for #WorldMigratoryBirdDay

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For autumn #WorldMigratoryBirdDay: Charley Harper (USA, 1922-2007) Birds of a Feather [Red-Winged Blackbirds], 1974 Serigraph, 31 x 24 in. www.charleyharperartstudio.com/birds-of-a-f... #BirdsInArt

digital image of the serigraph, from an original painting: migrating flock of male red-winged blackbirds with autumn leaves blowing through, in Harper’s signature “minimal realism” style

“Flocking together as summer wanes, a brigade of bachelor red-winged blackbirds swings into the southbound lane, where traffic is backed up to the Arctic Circle. But where are the brownish females? Flocking apart. Red-winged congregations are strictly his or hers, except in spring when they sing, “I’m ok-a-lee, you’re ok-a-lee”, and consort among the cattails long enough to make sure there will always be red-winged blackbirds. Then it’s back to separate dorms—flocking together apart.”
–Charley Harper

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · yesterday

Resharing for #WorldMigratoryBirdDay

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For #WorldMigratoryBirdDay : Rie Muñoz (American, 1921-2015) Migration, c.1977 Seriograph, 22.25" x 27.25" www.mutualart.com/Artwork/Migr... #WomenArtists #BirdsInArt

color print, illustration of a flock of 15 birds (Canada Geese) in flight on white background, elements of Pacific NW Coast art style

Colossal @thisiscolossal.com · 4d ago

For Amok Island, the fragility of the earth’s biodiversity plays a central role in vibrant, large-scale murals. www.thisiscolossal.com/2026/10/amok...

a bright geometric mural of flowers and butterflies in Perth

a bright geometric mural of flowers on the front of a community hall

Chapps @chapps.bsky.social · 3d ago

This being the last hours of #WorldOctopusDay is a great excuse to post this superb Mycenaean stirrup jar with a hallucinogenic-stylized octopus. Somebody clearly ate the mushrooms. 😆 🏺 1200-1100 BCE. Met Museum. 📸 me

A stylized octopus with spiral, hypnotic eyes and flanked by fish covers each side of this stirrup jar, named for the shape of its handles. Mycenaean pottery often reflects Minoan-inspired themes and techniques that originated on the island of Crete. Animated marine motifs adopted from Minoan art began to appear on Mycenaean vessels in about 1500 BCE and were initially rendered in a very naturalistic manner. Here, the symmetrical composition and abstract depiction of the sea creatures are characteristically Mycenaean.

Such jars were commonly used to transport liquids.

Mycenaean, Late Helladic IIIC, ca. 1200-1100 BCE.

H. 10 1/4 in. (26 cm); diameter 8 7/16 in. (21.5 cm)

Met Museum, New York (53.11.6)

Medieval Illumination @medieval-illuminations.mastodon.social.ap.brid.gy · 3d ago

Frutti di mare. Northumberland Bestiary, London ca. 1250-1260. LA, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Ms. 100, fol. 48v. #medieval #MedievalArt

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 3d ago

Resharing for #WorldOctopusDay 🐙

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

It's #OCTOber #OctopusDay 🐙 and I'm awestruck by this incredible #octopus platter! Traditional #Haida carved argillite, late 19th c., from Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands, BC, Canada). 3 x 20 x 29.6 cm. Anchorage Museum 1977.008.001: onlinecollections.anchoragemuseum.org/uploaded_fil...

official museum photo of the octopus platter, top-down view: "Oval-shaped dish featuring a raised octopus in the interior and a rope border."

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 3d ago

Resharing for #WorldOctopusDay 🐙

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For #WorldOctopusDay 🐙: #Octopus Frontlet Moche (La Mina), Peru, 300–600 CE Gold, chrysocolla, shells H. 11 × W. 16 15/16 × D. 1 3/4 in. (27.9 × 43.1 × 4.4 cm) Museo de la Nación, Lima, Ministerio de Cultura del Perú (MN-14602) www.metmuseum.org/art/collecti...

official museum photo of the gold octopus frontlet, full front view on black background

“This object would have been affixed to a cylindrical headdress. Made of gold sheet, it was cut into the shape of a supernatural figure with serrated octopus tentacles that terminate in catfish heads. The creature rests on two clawlike feet, depicted in low relief. Reportedly found at La Mina, in the Jequetepeque Valley, the frontlet is remarkably similar to an example illustrated on a ceramic vessel from Dos Cabezas.”

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 3d ago

Resharing for #WorldOctopusDay 🐙

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last yr.

For #WorldOctopusDay 🐙 here's a smiley octopus on a terracotta plate from Getty Museum 😀 Detail from Paestan Red-Figure Fish Plate, 4th c. BCE, attributed to the Binningen Painter getty.edu/art/collecti... #CephalopodAwarenessDays

Paestan Red-Figure Fish Plate (happy-looking octopus detail)
attributed to the Binningen Painter
3rd quarter of 4th century BCE
terracotta
6.5 × 26 cm (2 9/16 × 10 1/4 in.)
Paestum, South Italy
Greek (South Italian, Paestan)
Getty Museum Obj. No. 96.AE.240

Royal Society Publishing @royalsocietypublishing.org · 3w ago

In order to understand early modern science, images are no less significant than words. A new #NotesandRecords special issue examines a wide range of images, from true-to-life drawings to carefully conceived schematics: royalsocietypublishing.org/rsnr/issue/8... #HistSci #HistSTM

Ashmolean Museum, Oxford @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social · last wk.

Happy #WorldAnimalDay! Do you have a favourite in the Ashmolean? World Animal Day exists to celebrate animals but also to raise their status and improve welfare standards around the globe. The 4th of October is the feast day of St Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals.

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

This old auction catalog was on the free pile at the library. Obviously I had to grab it. It's supposed to be a pet #squirrel... 😬 artwork info: Portrait of Frederic Parker of Pepperell, Massachusetts American School, 19th c. Pastel on paper, 24 5/8 x 19 3/8 in.

Cover of an auction catalog featuring an image of a framed portrait of a boy in period dress and his pet squirrel

THE BISNOFF COLLECTION
OCTOBER 27, 2007
MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE

Closeup of what is supposed to be a grey squirrel…its head looks like a weird fox though

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

For #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝: Sam Johnson (Kwakwaka'wakw, Musgama Dzawada'enuxw Nation, b. c.1930) #Raccoon Mask, c.1970-71 Red cedar, enamel paint, cotton cloth, 12 1/2 x 9 x 9 13/16 in. Seattle Art Museum art.seattleartmuseum.org/objects/7924... #IndigenousArt #NativeAmericanArt

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

Resharing for #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 3mo ago

I love all my children equally, but at any given moment I can have a designated Favorite Child. This title is currently held by the youngest, for getting me this Jimothy artwork from the local Pride festival today. 🤗 Artist: @shahuskies.bsky.social

photo of artwork: watercolor painting of Jimothy the Raccoon (print)

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

Resharing for #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Today’s fun find: Pennsylvania Game News, May 1982, #Raccoon cover art by PA wildlife artist Gerald W. Putt. Look at the baby! 😂🥰 #MagazineArt #Ephemera #WildlifeArt

photo of the cover of Pennsylvania Game News, May 1982, with cover art by Gerald W. Putt: mother raccoon holding baby in mouth, about to place in its nest in a hole in the trunk of a dogwood tree blooming with white flowers, on spring green background

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

Resharing for #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝: Walter Inglis Anderson (USA, 1903-1965) Contented #Raccoon, c.1960 Watercolor on paper Walter Anderson Museum of Art Permanent Collection www.instagram.com/p/C5oz1Yoy-cZ/

watercolor painting of a purplish raccoon, sitting belly up, talking up most of the space on the paper

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

Resharing for #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 3y ago

Today is #RaccoonAppreciationDay! Here's a watercolor of Carl Linnaeus' pet #raccoon Sjupp by Lars Alstring, c.1746-7. Sjupp was a gift from Crown Prince Fredrik & lived in Linnaeus' garden at Uppsala. This work hung in Linnaeus' study at Hammarby. Read more about Sjupp: nature.com/articles/446...

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last wk.

Resharing for #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay 🦝

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last yr.

For #InternationalRaccoonAppreciationDay: the Audubons' #raccoons from The Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America: 1 Raccoon (Procyon lotor), watercolor study c.1838-43? 2 Raccoon, Bowen ed. PL61 1846 3 Raccoon, Octavo ed. PL61 1851 4 Crab-eating Raccoon (Procyon cancrivorus), Octavo ed. PL155 1854

Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 2w ago

🦜 A monograph of the Ramphastidae, or family of toucans London: Published by the author, 20, Broad Street, Golden Square, [1852]-1854. [Source]

Illustration of two Ramphastos citreolaemus toucans perched on leafy branches. Each bird has a large, curved yellow and black beak, blue skin around the eyes, black upper body and wings, pale yellow throats blending to white on the upper chest, and distinctive bright red and yellow markings at the base of their long black tails. The background is softly shaded to highlight the birds. The artwork is detailed, showcasing their vibrant colors and textures typical of 19th-century natural history illustrations.

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2w ago

Resharing for #InternationalRabbitDay 🐰🐇

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For #InternationalRabbitDay 🐰: Yabu Chosui (Japan, 1814-c.1870) Portrait of a #Rabbit, 1867 Color woodblock print; surimono 24.9 × 18.3 cm (9 13/16 × 7 1/4 in.) Art Institute of Chicago www.artic.edu/artworks/420...

Color woodblock print, huge white rabbit with red eyes on pink background “A large rabbit fills the entire surface of this print, indicating that it was created in the year of the rabbit. The curious, sacklike quality of the rabbit’s body is also a reference to the large white bag of Hotei, one of the gods of good fortune, who often appears on New Year visual art. The rabbit’s body is also rounded out to suggest a lopsided moon (the home of the rice-pounding rabbit), which is emphasized by its silvery outline. Finally, there is an allusion to the most common New Year symbol, the rising sun. Although the rising sun is usually represented as a luminous, round body against an orange sky, Yabu Chosui showed it as a rising lopsided rabbit against a flaming pink background.”

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2w ago

Resharing for #InternationalRabbitDay 🐰🐇

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · last yr.

For #InternationalRabbitDay 🐰🐇: Love the facial expression on this blue bunny, it just keeps getting funnier the longer you stare back at it😂 China, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1654-1722), porcelain w/ blue glaze, Newfields collection: collection.imamuseum.org/artwork/23070/

blue porcelain rabbit figure on white background, front view - bunny is looking at us head on with a smirking expression on its face

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2w ago

Resharing for #WorldCassowaryDay

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For #WorldCassowaryDay: Double-wattled #Cassowary recorded in Illustrated Scroll of Birds (Chōrui zukan) Vol.1, Meiji Japan late 19th c. Native to New Guinea/NE Australia/Aru Islands, first imported by Dutch traders in 1646. Harvard Art Museums 1985.721.1: harvardartmuseums.org/collections/...

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2w ago

Resharing for #WorldCassowaryDay

Animal Aspects (Art History Animalia)@animal-aspects.bsky.social · 2y ago

For #WorldCassowaryDay: #Cassowary Dance Costume Iatmul people, Sepik River, Papua New Guinea, 20th c. Rattan, raffia, shells, string, cassowary feathers, pigment 26.5 x 18.25 x 75.5 in (67.3 x 46.4 x 191.8 cm) Harn S85-SPNG-G233: harn.emuseum.com/objects/8186/c… #IndigenousArt #BirdsInArt

"Finely woven rattan body costume with hanging fiber. Wings and head made from plaited string. Long neck. Design painted on predominately black body. Shell eye. Cassowary feathers extend down sides and ridge of back. Dangling twine from circular disc ears."

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 4w ago

Having a fantastic time with @alisonfisk.bsky.social here in Berlin, we spent the whole day at the Neues Museum. Too exhausted for a proper post, so here’s just this cute Egyptian faience rabbit figurine to say: perfect day. 🐇💙 Dating 2120-1794 BC, 11th/12th dynasty.

A small blue resting rabbit figurine on a rectangular base in a museum display case.