An Elephant with Howdah (c. 1485): Art, History and Details

An Elephant with Howdah (c. 1485) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This print shows an elephant carrying a crenellated and fortified basket—the howdah—from which two very small human figures peer out. In 1483, an elephant was brought to Germany and taken from town to town to be exhibited as a curiosity. It is likely that Martin Schongauer and his brother Ludwig, who were living in Ulm at that time, witnessed the arrival of this exotic animal. While he may have seen the elephant in person, Schongauer's portrayal—with its twisted trunk and shell-like ear—was likely made from memory rather than direct study of the beast.

Object facts

• Title: An Elephant with Howdah
• Date: c. 1485
• Creator attribution: Martin Schongauer (German, c. 1450–1491)
• Culture: Germany
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Sheet: 10.8 x 14.6 cm (4 1/4 x 5 3/4 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1927.199

A detail from the museum

The howdah is a carriage placed on the back of an elephant and used to transport wealthy people during hunting and warfare.

Collection credit

Dudley P. Allen Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Some Recent Accession to the Department of Prints." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 15, no. 10 (December 1928): 194-196, 198-199, 201, 207

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.