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.

023. MS M.890, fols. 16v–17r

Fountains Abbey bestiary

ca. 1325–1350
England, probably North Yorkshire
227 x 152 mm
MS M.890, fols. 16v–17r

Gift of Alastair Bradley Martin, 1958

Left Page (Fol. 16v)
Fire Stones: This is a drawing of personified “fire stones”: gendered stones that ignited and destroyed everything around them when a female stone came into contact with a male stone. The bestiary treats them as a cautionary tale for the clergy, who were warned to distance themselves from lustful women.

Amos: Here Amos, a shepherd mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, is depicted wearing a Phrygian cap, associated with Jews. This drawing illustrates an anti-Jewish passage—typical of the bestiary—which compares Jews to sinful goats that Christ was unable to convert into sheep.

Right Page (Fol. 17r)
Asp: Typically, the asp plugs its ear with its tail in order to resist the snake-charmer’s musical wiles— but here the snake’s tail rests on top of its head. The snake-charmer holds up a shield to protect himself from the snake’s venomous bite.

Scitalis: The scitalis pictured here does not much look like a snake with its pointed ears, wings, whiskers, and claws: it is said to stun its prey with its marvelous appearance and glittering scales.

Amphisbaena: The two-headed amphisbaena can move quickly with either head in the lead.

Hydrus: The hydrus lubricates itself with mud and slips down the throat of a crocodile in order to kill it from the inside, as Christ coated himself in human skin and defeated the devil.