Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

015. MS M.890, fols. 8v–9r

Fountains Abbey bestiary

ca. 1325–1350
England, probably North Yorkshire
227 x 152 mm
MS M.890, fols. 8v–9r

Gift of Alastair Bradley Martin, 1958

Left Page (Fol. 8v)
Mole: The pupil-less eyes of this mole draw attention to the creature’s blindness, emphasized in the bestiary description.

Hedgehog: A hedgehog crouches between two vines, perhaps looking to salvage grapes that the bestiary tells us they speared on their quills and transported home to their young.

Ants: A line of ants marches forward in unison, an example of cooperation and diligence.

Ox: This ox’s neck, tightly roped with muscle, reveals its time behind the plow as a beast of burden. The text alludes to more monstrous variations of the familiar animal, from the massive wild oxen of Germany, to the single-horned, horse-hooved oxen of India.

Right Page (Fol. 9r)
Camel: This drawing shows a camel at rest from the extraordinary feats of endurance such as traveling for days without water, bearing heavy burdens, and taking part in battles.

Dromedary: Although the text makes a point of distinguishing dromedaries from camels (e.g. by size, and by number of humps, speed), the two beasts on this folio look quite similar.