Rhizome of a fern, shaped by the Chinese to represent a tan-coloured dog, and laid before the Royal Society by Sir Hans Sloane as a specimen of the 'Bartometz,' or 'Tartarian Lamb.'
Featured on PDR in the essay Animal, Vegetable, Lamb: The Zoophyte from Tartary
In the Middle Ages, rumours spread across Europe of a strange hybrid creature, half-animal, half-plant, known as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. A hoax based on fern rhizomes? A euphemism for culled fetal lambs? Or perhaps a medieval misapprehension of cotton? Thom Sliwowski traces the roots of this fabled zoophyte.
Also appearing in the essay…
Rhizome of a fern, shaped by the Chinese to represent a tan-coloured dog
Date
1887
From
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: A Curious Fable of the Cotton Plant
- Available up to size small
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- Archival inks on high grade art paper
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Image Size
3536 x 1984
