The rhinoceros was transported from Stralsund to Danzig in July 1754 (source 7351). In Danzig it was seen by the famous naturalist Jacob Theodor Klein (source 7354). It was drawn in 3 positions by Jacob Wessel (according to Klein, source 7354) and engraved by Matthäus Deisch (source 7352), which broadsheet was for sale at 18 Groschen (source 7353). The exhibition in Danzig is mentioned by Michael Christoph Hanov in 1768 (source 7355) and Jacob Christian Gottlieb von Schaeffer in 1775 (source 7356). Later in the year, the animal would return by boat after the November visit to Warsaw (source 7357, source 7358).
Literature
- Van der Ham, 2022, p. 185, notes 240, 241
Source 7351. Intelligenzen von täglichen Vorkommenheiten, 16 August 1754
Douwe Mout 1754. Intelligenzen von täglichen Vorkommenheiten in Pommern und Rügen No. 33, 1754 August 16: 4.
Original text (German)
Abgegangen sind – Vom Stralsund
Claes Schlück, nach Danzig, mit dem Rhinoceros
English translation
Departures from Stralsund. Claes Schlück, to Danzig, with the rhinoceros.
Source 7352. Deisch, Broadsheet
Matthäus Deisch (1718–1789), engraver
Copper engraving, Kupferstich, size 221 x 362 mm
Scene with rhinoceros in three different positions. Note the virtual length of the horn. The text below the illustration has 2 ½ lines in German, 3 ½ lines in Polish, and the signature lower right.
Examples:
- Berlin, collection Martin Sperlich – now Staatliche Schlösser
- Krakau, Biblioteka Jagiellonska [details unknown]
Literature
- Heikamp 1980: 316, fig. 16 – illustrated from Sperlich Collection
- Clarke 1986: 63, fig. 39 – illustrated from Sperlich Collection
- Drugulin 1867: 388 – with date 1754
- Rosenthal, J., 1904. Bibliotheca magica et Pneumatica. Kataloge 31–35. Munchen, Jacques Rosenthal, p. 389, no. 5103 – and some other rhino broadsheets
- Faust 2003: 156–157, no. 733 – illustrated
https://rhinoresourcecenter.com/library/images/deisch-1754/
Original text (German)
Accurate Abbildung eines Asiatischen Rhinozeros weiblichen Geschlechts von dreierlei Posituren, nemlich von vornen, von hinten, und von der Seiten. Welcher 1754 in Polen und Preussen lebendig gesehen worden, seine länge und dicke ist 12 schu, die hohe 5 schu 7 zoll, seines Alters 16 Jar.
[signed lower right] Matth. Deisch fecit Gedani.
Original text (Polish)
Prawdziwe wyobracenie jednego Azyackiego zwierza Rhinozeros nazwany Ktory zwierz iest samica troiakiey pollacie, mianowicie z przodku z ty lu y z boku, ktory zwiercz roku Panakiego 1754 go W. Polszcze y w Pruskiey ziemi zywym bylwidziany, Dluz y grub
English translation
Accurate depiction of a female Asian rhinoceros in three poses: front, back, and side. It was seen alive in Poland and Prussia in 1754. Its length and thickness are 12 inches, its height 5 inches and its age is 16 years. – Matth. Deisch engraved this in Danzig.
Source 7353. Sale of Deisch broadsheet
Dantziger Anzeigen, 1755, p. 94 (from Heikamp, D. 1980.:316)
Original text (German)
Bey Matthäus Deisch, in des Sattlers’ Zimmermanns Behausung, am Kettrauschen Thor ist ein ganz neuer Rhinozeros in dreyerley Posituren, wie er von vorne, von hinten und von der Seite ausgesehen, in Kupfer gestochen zu haben, vor 18 gr.
English translation
At Matthäus Deisch’s, in the saddler’s Zimmermanns house, at the Kettrauschen Gate, a completely new [print of] rhinoceros in three poses, as it appeared from the front, from the back and from the side, is for sale engraved in copper, for 18 gr.
Sale of broadsheet by Jacques Rosenthal:
Rosenthal, J. 1904. Bibliotheca magica et Pneumatica. Kataloge 31–35. Munchen
Rosenthal, J. 1928. Katalog 89. Zeitungen und Relationen des XV. Bis XVIII. Jahrhunderts. Munchen, Jacques Rosenthal.
Original text (German)
no. 5103. Abbilding eines asiatischen Rhinozeros weibl. Geschlechts von dreierlei Posturen, welches 1754 in Polen u. Preussen lebendig gesehen worden. Flugblatt. Matth. Deisch sc. Danzig [1754]. Qu-fol. 15,-
Source 7354. Klein, Naturliche Ordnung
Jakub Teodor Klein (1685–1759), Jacob Theodor Klein
* Matthäus Deisch (1718–1789)
* Jacob Wessel (d.1780), artist in Danzig
Klein, J.T. 1760. Naturliche Ordnung und vermehrte Historie der vierfussigen Thiere, herausgegeben von Gottfried Beyger, Director der Naturforschen Gesellschaft. Danzig, Johann Christian Schuster. pp. 1, i–xiv, 1–156.
States that the broadsheet was drawn by Wessel, engraved by Deisch
Original text (German)
[p. 32] und 1741 ein Junges, so weiblichen Geschlechts, und von Parson beschrieben worden, und dieses soll dasjenige seyn, welches 1754 bey uns in Danzig gewesen, und damals 16 Jahr alt war; die Höhe desselben war 5 Schuh 7 Zoll, die Dicke und Länge 12 Schuh. Ich habe eine dreyfache Abbildung dieses Thiers befordern helfen, welche Wetzel nach dem Leben gezeichnet, und Deisch in Danzig in Kupfer gestochen, und diese halte ich für die richtigste und genaueste von allen, so jemals zum Vorscheine gekommen, es ist weder am Kopfe noch an den Füßen und Klauen etwas auszusetzen. Der Eigner dieses Thiers hat auch eine Medaille davon schlagen lassen.
English translation
And in 1741 a young female was described by Parson, and this is said to be the one that was with us in Danzig in 1754, and was then 16 years old; its height was 5 feet 7 inches, its thickness and length 12 feet. I have helped to obtain three illustrations of this animal, which Wetzel drew from life, and Deisch engraved in copper in Danzig, and I consider this to be the most accurate and correct of all that have ever appeared; there is nothing to criticize about the head, feet, or hooves. The owner of this animal also had a medal struck of it.
* The Medal is not known.
Source 7355. Hanov, Philosophiae
* Michael Christoph Hanov (1695–1773)
Hanov, M.C. 1766. Philosophiae naturalis sive physicae dogmaticae: tanquam continuationem systematis philosophici Christiani L. B. De Wolff. Volume IV: Continens botanologiam physicam, zoologiam, anthropologiam generalem, physiologiam et pathologiam physicam. Halae Magdeburgicae, Prostat In Officina Libraria Libraria Rengeriana.
Two sections:
A. Details of a rhinoceros at 16 years old
NB. Place not clear. Halae = Halle near Leipzig. Hanov lived later in Gdansk
Original text (Latin)
[p. 457] Longitudo etatis anno 16 pedum 22, altitudo ultra 5 ½ pedem, crassum in abdomine 4 pedes. Pedibus utitur cressis brevibus ungulis antrorfum trilobis, quibus velociter currere valet. Fertur natare, & more anatum in aqua mergi, ponderare 5000 libras, & quotidie ultra 50 libras faeni &c. devorare. Cum id viderem unicornu A. 1747, cornu illi erat ademtum, ut non nisi truncus brevis reflaret obtufus, forte ne stabulum & caveam ferream demoliretur.
English translation
Length at the age of 16 feet 22, height over 5 ½ feet, thickness in the abdomen 4 feet. It uses its feet with short, three-lobed front hooves, with which it is able to run quickly. It is said to swim, and to dive like a duck in water, to weigh 5000 pounds, and to devour daily over 50 pounds of hay, etc. When I saw this with one horn Anno 1747, its horn had been taken away, so that only a short, blunt trunk remained, perhaps lest the stable and iron cage be demolished.
B. Another entry refers to the exhibition of a fossil skull in Danzig in 1757, not Clara:
Original text (Latin)
[p. 457] Ostendebatur Gedani A. 1757. Cranium prope oppidum Mevense imbre forti in monte arenoso detectum ponderans 65 libras, longum 2 pedes parisinos, latitudo media ante foramina oculorum 12 1⁄2″, altitudo superior 11″, pro quo oblatos 50 thaleros accipere detrectaverat possessor. Ex proportione foraminum nasalium & ocularium, & intermedio gibbo 6 alto, 5″ longo & lato, rhinocerotis id esse judicavi, cum & foramina dentium ei responderent & reliqua proportio cum rhinocerotis corpore, & Parsonii defcriptione conveniens, non cum hippopotami dentibus &c. Conf. Obss. Ged. mens Mart. & Aprili A. 1757. Videtur Rhinoceros esse Hebraeorum רְאֵם.
English translation
It was exhibited to Gedani A. 1757. A skull discovered near the town of Mevense in a heavy rain on a sandy mountain, weighing 65 pounds, 2 Parisian feet long, the average width before the eye holes 12 1⁄2″, the upper height 11″, for which the owner had declined to accept the 50 thalers offered. From the proportion of the nasal and eye holes, and the intermediate hump 6″ high, 5″ long and wide, I judged it to be a rhinoceros, since the tooth holes corresponded to it and the rest of the proportion was with the body of a rhinoceros, and was suitable to Parsons description, not with the teeth of a hippopotamus, etc. Conf. Obss. Ged. Mens. Mart. & Aprili A. 1757. It seems that the Rhinoceros is of the Hebrews רְאֵם
Source 7356. Schaeffer, Onomatologia Historiae Naturalis
Jacob Christian Gottlieb von Schaeffer (1718–1790)
Schaeffer, J.C.G. von 1777. Onomatologia Historiae Naturalis Completa oder vollständiges Lexicon das alle Benennungen der Kunstwörter der Naturgeschichte nach ihrem ganzen Umfang erkläret und den reichen Schatz der ganzen Natur. Gaum.
vol. 6, p. 825 has rhino in Danzig in 1745 (=1754 ?), also other details as from the broadsheets, refers to Klein and the Deisch engraving.
Source 7357 [also 7456]. Staats-Relation, 8 November 1754
Douwe Mout 1754. Staats-Relation derer neuesten Europäischen Nachrichten und Begebenheiten (Regensburg), vol. 6 no. 135, 8 November 1754, p. 536
Original text (German)
Das Rhinoceros, so A. 1747, den 4 Mart. hieher [Regensburg] gekommen, ist nun auch in Warschau angelangt. Die Curiosite, dieses Thier, dergleichen noch nie in Europa gesehen worden, zu sehen, hat eine solche erstaunliche Menge Zuscherben gelocket, daß der Kron-Marschall dem Eigenthümer desselben eine Wache vor die Thür geben müssen. Dieses Thier wird von hier wieder zu Wasser nach Danzig zuruck gebracht werden;
[After exhibition in Warsaw. – This animal will return to Danzig by boat.]
Source 7358 [also 7454]. Altonaischer Mercurius, 29 October 1754
Douwe Mout 1754. Altonaischer Mercurius, Dienstag den 29. Oktober 1754, no. 169, p. 36
Original text (German)
Warschau, vom 19 Oktober
Der Zulauf zum Rhinoceros ist so stark, daß der Kron-Marschall dem Eigenthümer eine Wache vor die Thür hat geben müssen. Von hier will der Eigner des Thiers mit demselben nach Danzig zu Wasser gehen.
English translation
The demand for the rhinoceros is so high that the Crown Marshal has had to post a guard at the owner’s door. From here, the owner intends to take the animal by water to Danzig.
