biscuit porcelain, height: 23,5 cm, length: 41,5 cm, Ludwigsburg Manufactory, Germany, green mark ca. 2010, model by the sculptor and ceramic master Gertrud Nein, commissioned by Angela Princess Fugger von Glött (Ru)

Source: Albertina, Vienna, databank:
The woodcut belongs to the Albertina Collection in Vienna with the title “Rhinocerus” (the rhinoceros) dated 1515. designation: print, technique: woodcut and letterpress, dimensions: 23,6 x 30 cm, signature: r. o. "1515/RHINOCERUS/AD;

The woodcut depicts an actual Indian rhinoceros that arrive in Lisbon on 20.5.1515. It stayed in the Ribeira Palace menagerie of King Manuel I until the end of 1515. Here it was given a collar of green velvet decorated with roses and with gold eyelets, a chain of gilt iron – and was then shipped to Rome, intended as a present for the Medici Pope Leo X. However, the sailing transport foundered off the Ligurian coast, near La Spezia. Chained to the deck, the rhino drowned and its body was later washed up on the nearby shore. Its skin was returned to Lisbon where it was stuffed, expertly mounted, and then sent back to Rome, where it finally arrived in February 1516.

Albrecht Dürer the Younger, (Nürnberg 21.5.1471-6.4.1528 Nürnberg), had never personally seen the rhino. His woodcut was based on a description and sketch by an unknown artist, who had. The Indian rhinoceros was very likely the first live specimen to reach Europe since the 3rd century. Rhinoceroses are known to have been part of the menageries of Roman emperors Domitian, Commodus, and Caracalla;