The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary

The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, illustration from Lee, H., 1887.
The Vegetable Lamb of Tartary: a Curious Fable of the Cotton
Plant, to Which is Added a Sketch of the History of Cotton and
the Cotton Trade.  S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, London.

Medieval Europe subscribed to beliefs in many legendary creatures, unicorns being a prime example, although that myth began in ancient Greece.  Most of these critters were born from hearsay and a lack of knowledge of foreign places.  One such creature was the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, a zoophyte from Central Asia that grew sheep from its stem.

Illustration from Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch's picture book for children,
circa late 1700s.  Clockwise it features a Basilisk, a Roc, a Phoenix, a Dragon,
the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary, and a Unicorn.

Close-up of the above illustration - "Das Boramez, oder Scythische Lamm".

A "zoophyte" is an animal that looks like a plant, common in medieval and renaissance herbals.  They were often found in early medical texts, and are examples of explanations explaining the origins of unknown plants.  These continued into the 17th century and were commented on by many scholars of the time, including Francis Bacon.  Claims of zoophytes began to be refuted by 1646, and skepticism increased in the 17th and 18th centuries.

1605 illustration by Claude Duret of Moulins from Histoire Admirable des Plantes.

The plant-born sheep of the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary were claimed to be connected to the plant through an "umbilical cord", which was supple and allowed the sheep to graze on the vegetation surrounding the plant.  Once all the vegetation was consumed, the sheep died.  These plants were said to grow from seeds that looked like melon seeds but rounder.  The sheep, or lamb, was believed to have blood, bones, and a crab-like flesh, which could be eaten.  The blood supposedly tasted like honey.  The "wool" was used by the local people to make cloth.  Wolves and other animals were attracted to it.

This illustration is from the 1350 book The Travels of Sir John Mandeville,
first written in Anglo-Norman French, and translated.  Mandeville is the
pseudonym for an unknown compiler of the book, which was very popular
and influential in its time.  Columbus had a copy.  This is what the plant was
thought to look like, although other illustrations show only one lamb per plant.

It may have been an explanation of cotton - that fiber unknown to Europeans except by trade, who had no notion of how it was produced from a plant.  Since cotton is white and fluffy, similar to wool, it's easy to see where the sheep-plant idea arose.  But there is actually a plant that produces something that could vaguely resemble a sheep or lamp.  The Cibotium barometz is a fern of the genus Cibotium.  (Cibotium comes from the Greek "kibotion", a small box used to hold medicines).  It is also known as the Scythian Lamb or Barometz (Tartar for lamb). This tree fern is native today to parts of China, where it is known as Golden Hair Dog Fern, and the western Malay Peninsula.  It can grow to the height of 3'3" tall when erect, but is often prostrate and spreads on open forest slopes.  The fronds grow up to 10' long.  It is collected in Southeast Asia and is in serious decline.  It is used in folk medicines; it is believed to replenish the liver and kidney, and strengthen bones and muscles.

An 1878 depiction of a cotton plant.  Ebers, Georg,
Egypt: Descriptive, Historical, and Picturesquem,
Vol. I.  Cassell & Company, Ltd., New York.

As early as 436 CE, there is a similar plant mentioned in Jewish folklore.  The Yeduah was a lamb-like creature that sprouted from a stem from the earth.  The Yeduah could only be severed from its stem with darts or arrows.  When it died its bones were used for divination.  Another legend is of the Faduah, a human-shaped zoophyte also connected to the earth by a stem from its navel.  This plant would kill anything that got too close, and also died when severed from its stem.

Frontispiece of John Parkinson's Paradisi in Sole Paradisus
Terrestris: Or a Garden of All Sorts of Pleasant Flowers
which our English Ayre will Permitt to be Noursed Vp.
With a Kitchen Garden of All Manner of Herbes, Rootes, &
Fruites, for Meate or Sause Vsed with Vs, and an Orchard of
All Sorte of Fruitbearing Trees and Shrubbes Fit for Our Land.
Together with the Right Orderinge, Planting & Preserving of
Them and Their Uses and Vertues Collected by John Parkinson
Apothecary of London.  London: Printed by Hvumfrey Lownes and
Robert Yovng at the Signe of the Starre on Bread-Street.  1629.
Adam and Eve are in Paradise.  The plant is by the river above Adam.

Many searched to find this rumored plant.  It was debated by philosophers, written about in literature, and discussed all over Europe.  Besides the aforementioned Sir John Mandeville of the 14th century,  in 1549 Sigismund, Baron von Herberstein wrote a detailed account of it in Rerum Muscoviticarum Commentarii ("Notes on Russia").  Although he never found it, he claimed he heard too many reports of it for it not to be true, and said it could be found near the Caspian Sea.

A more accurate depiction of the fronds, but the sheep are still
around the plant.  From the Svenska Familj-Journalen, Vol. 18, 1879.

Engelbert Kaempfer, a German physician and scholar, went to Persia in 1683 intent on finding it.  Since he was unsuccessful, he concluded it was a legend.  He did offer an explanation however, as he had observed the custom of removing a lamb from its mother's womb in order to get the soft wool, and thought this fetal wool could be mistaken for something from a plant.  Diderot included an entry on it in his Encyclopedia, although some see this as a criticism of blind religious belief and a call to view all phenomena scientifically.

A preserved sample under glass at the Garden Museum, London.

The plant today.  Image courtesywww.forestferns.co.uk.

This is a fascinating example of how humans, educated scholars even, explained the unknown.  Today, with photographic media and the internet, any curious person can research something they are unfamiliar with.  However, we humans seem to have a penchant for mystery and the impossible.  What common legends do we still subscribe to?

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Unless otherwise noted, all images courtesy of Wikipedia.

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Cheers to Bravo!

Study of Tamayo's Hands; 1931; silver gelatin print.

I love black and white photography.  Without the dimension of color I can really see and concentrate on the subject.  I think for some photographers it is harder; you need a unique kind of eye to see something in black and white.  In fact, I see black and white photography as a different genre from color photography.  My favorite black and white photographer is Manuel Álvarez Bravo.

Split Nopal; circa 1970; gelatin silver print.

Bravo is recognized today as one of the masters of photography and the main representative of Latino photography in the 20th century.  He was born in Mexico City in 1902, and grew up privy to the avant-garde movements that followed the Mexican Revolution, a cultural renaissance that drew international artists.  His photos captured the disparity between urban and rural life as they confronted modernity.

In a Village; circa 1944; gelatin silver print.  The woman sitting was Bravo's
second wife, Doris Heydn.  Bravo referred to this photo as Sueño de una turista,
or Tourist's Dream.  The women are oblivious to each other, creating tension.

Although he left school at the age of twelve to contribute to his family's income after his father died, he eventually began studying painting and music at the Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes in 1918.  His father and grandfather had been amateur photographers, and although he received his first camera in 1923 he did not become a professional photographer until two years later.  He met and worked with some of the well-known artists of that time - Tina Modotti, Edward Weston, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Sisqueiros, and José Clemente Orozco, to name but some.

The Good Reputation, Sleeping; from a 1938 negative; gelatin silver print.
The title comes from a proverb - La Buena fama durmiendo; earn a good
reputation, then rest on your laurels.  This photo was the result of a phone
call on behalf of André Breton who wanted an image for the cover of a catalog
for an upcoming surrealist exhibition at the Galería de Arte Mexicano.
This is my personal favorite black and white photo

Although he was never formally a part of the surrealism movement, his work has elements of dreams and fantasties, and his photographs of inanimate objects are generally imbued with human qualities.  His work was often political and he had associations with revolutionary artists and writers.  Despite his openness and exposure to influences outside of his native country, his work displays a distinctively Mexican focus.  This was in tune with national efforts to create a unified Mexican cultural identity, and the emergence of Mexico City as an international center for art and the intellectual climate that accompanied it.

The Crouched Ones; 1934; gelatin silver print.  The anonymous men have
been visually decapitated, their feet bound by the chains linking the chairs.
Such a compelling statement about the constraints and invisibility of laborers!

Tina Modotti was working for the magazine Mexican Folkways, which explored the cultural history of Mexico.  She gave Bravo some freelance assignments, and when she was deported in 1930 for her politics, he took her place.  His work at first consisted mostly of photographs of artifacts, murals, and portraits.  But he also began to photograph landscapes, architecture, nature, and the daily life of everyday people.  He was able to convey a sense of isolation and dissonance in many of his photos; his images tell captivating stories.

Daughter of the Dancers; 1933, gelatin silver print.

For decades he shot his provocative vignettes, but in the 1940s he focused more on landscapes.  Because of his interest and involvement in film his work took on a more cinematic look.  His shots became more complex, blending past and present. Octavio Paz, the Nobel Laureate, was a close friend of Bravo's.  He described Bravo's photographs as instances of revelation, moments of fixation.

Optical Parable; 1931; gelatin silver print.  He flipped
the negative reversing the text.  Parable, parabola in
Spanish, refers to both a shape and a story, thus is wordplay.

Bravo used silver-gelatin, palladium, and platinum printing processes.  He mostly printed 8 x 10 copies, but also did some 11 x 14 prints, and rarely 16 x 20.  He explored all facets of photography, including Polaroids and disposable cameras.  It would have been interesting to see what he would have done with digital photography, but he passed away in 2002, having lived a rich and productive 100 years.

Bravo in London in 1980, age 78.
Image courtesy of Bill Jay.

Bravo was married three times to women who were all professionals of some renown in their own right. He was, and is, a profoundly influential photographer whose work has earned international acclaim.  Born in interesting times, he took full advantage of his situation and involved himself fully in life.  I celebrate his life and work and hope that he will continually inspire those who experience his art.

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All images © The J. Paul Getty Trust.  All rights reserved.

The Asociación Manuel Álvarez Bravo AC is archiving his work.

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Ancient Sour Grapes

A relief from ancient Egypt, circa 1,500 BCE, showing the
growing of grapes, and the production and trade of wine.

The earliest evidence of wine production (oenology) is from Georgia (Russia, not the U.S.) around 6,000 BCE.  This was determined by a gene-mapping project in 2006 where 110 common cultivars were analyzed and found to originate in Georgia.  Evidence has also been found in sites in Iran (5,000 BCE) and Armenia (4,000 BCE), while domestication of the grapevine seems to have occurred in the Near East, Sumer, and Egypt around 3,000 BCE.  There are archaeological sites in Macedonia from 4,500 BCE that reveal the earliest wine production centers in Europe.

A map of archaeological sites were wine or olive agriculture were found.
Click on this link for a larger view of the map.

Wines are made with a number of fruits and grains.  They are usually named for whatever their main ingredient is, such as strawberry wine or rice wine.  The term "wine" in many of these cases refers to the face they are alcoholic beverages rather than how they are produced.  Wines made of grains are closer to beer than wine. Grape wine is made with fermenting crushed grapes and yeast, which consumes the sugars in the grapes converting them to alcohol.  Grapes have a natural chemical balance which allows them to ferment without additions such as sugars or enzymes.

Grapes that will be made into wine.

Actually, very little is known about the beginnings of oenology.  Gatherers and early farmers may have used wild plants.  As the production process was established, the need may have arisen for a steady supply, and certain types of grapes may have been preferred.  In 2007, the earliest known winery was found in Armenia that has been determined to be 6,100 years old.  Areni-1, as the winery is known, had fermentation vats, a press, storage jars, and pottery shards.  The site was determined to be a burial site, so the wine produced there is believed to have been intended for rituals involving burials.  The people who lived here at this time are unknown, but the site was abandoned when the roof caved in.  Sheep dung prevented fungi, thus preserving the site.

Areni-1 with wine press in front of sign and fermentation vat at right.
Image courtesy of Gregory Areshian.

The word "wine" is from a Proto-Indo-European stem *win-o.  Our modern viniculture comes from ancient Greece, where the grapes grown today are similar or identical to those grown in ancient times.  Wines were known to both Minoan and Mycenaean cultures.  There was a festival in Mycenaean times known as the "festival of the new wine" or "month of the new wine" - me-tu-wo ne-wo. This is the earliest known term referring to wine.  Because of the amphorae found all over the ancient world with Greek art and styling, it is possible that the Greeks introduced wine to many areas, including Egypt.

An Attic black-figure amphora with Dionysus,
circa 6th century BCE.  This is attributed to the
Priam Painter, active in Athens at that time.

In ancient Egypt, wine was used for rituals.  By the end of the Old Kingdom (2650 - 2152 BCE) there were five types of wine considered essential for the afterlife. Although wine was commonly known, the ancient Egyptians were superstitious about its resemblance to blood.  Beer was the preferred drink of the people.

The transportation of wine in barrels across a river, circa 63 BCE - 14 CE.

In ancient Greece and Rome, wines were related to religion with the worship of Dionysus and Bacchus. Wine became a part of the everyday diet, and became big business.  The winemaking regions of western Europe were for the most part established during the Roman Empire.  Barrels were invented by the Gauls, which were easy to roll; later the introduction of glass bottles by the Syrians were also used.  After the Greeks invented the screw (probably Archimedes) it was used throughout the Mediterranean for wine and oil presses.  Roman villas were commonly outfitted with wine presses.  The Romans are credited with naming wines according to their regions, in essence creating a brand of sorts.

A jue, or Chinese bronze beaker used to serve wine.
It has been attributed to the 18th C. BCE, which
would indicate it was made and used for rice wine.
Image courtesy of Art Poskanzer/Wikipedia.

After the Han Dynasty (202 BCE - 220 CE), contact with Hellenistic kingdoms introduced grapes into China.  But the Chinese made wine in the 2nd century BCE, before this introduction, using wild grapes. Rice wine was the preferred drink, and grape wine was reserved for the Emperor.  Marco Polo noted that rice wine was more common that grape wine in the 1280s.  Drinking wine was an activity that went along with chess, music, good conversation, meditation, poetry, and calligraphy, among other loftier activities.  The phrase for this was being in the company of "drinking guests."

Pressing wine from a 14th century book, the Tacuinum Sanitatis,
 a  medieval handbook on health and well-being.

In the Middle East wine was imported, as the arid climate was not suitable for growing grapes.  When Islam came about, alcoholic drinks were forbidden, but there are records of medicinal wines being used.  Muslim alchemists worked on distillation, resulting in ethanol, which was used for perfumes.  This is also the first time wine was distilled into brandy.

A woman pouring wine from a 17th century wall
painting  in the Chehel Sotoun Palace, Iran.

When the western Roman Empire fell around 500 CE, the Roman Catholic Church carried on the tradition of viniculture.  Wine was important to the Catholic Mass, so monasteries began producing it.  They produced enough to distribute for secular use throughout Europe.  This is when meads began to be made as well.  Wines were kept in barrels and not aged, but drunk young.  Since ancient times, wines were watered down to control alcohol consumption.

The oldest known bottle of (liquid) wine.  It has been
dated to 300 CE, and was found in a Roman sarcophagus.
It has lots of sediment and a thick mixture which may
 be olive oil.  Although cork closures were known, they
were not commonly used.  Instead olive oil was floated
on the top where it prevented evaporation and oxidation.
Image courtesy of the Historisches Museum der Pfalz.

Vitis vinifera was the species of grape which became most successful, and is still the standard for most of the world's wines.  "Vinland", the new country that explorer Leif Eriksson discovered in 1000 CE, was named for the native grapes that grew there, but which ultimately weren't desirable for wine.  Later on European settlers brought vinifera vines but they didn't take well to American soil. Eventually vinifera vines were grafted to native rootstocks, and the resulting plants were successful.

From St. Peter Port, Guernsey.

Wine was never an invention, but a discovery.  Its development depended on finding the right kinds of grapes and growing them.  Today we continue a very long tradition that has endured for millenia.  À votre santé!

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Unless otherwise noted, images courtesy of Wikipedia.

For a detailed look at how wine is depicted in fiction, see 

OenoLit and the Private Library.

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Hand Jive

Guido Daniele and a model.

Guido Daniele is a celebrated Italian artist who is well-known for his hand and body art.  A master at trompe l'oeil, his work can be seen in many ads.  A resident of Milan, he graduated from the Brera School of Arts as a sculpture major.  He continued his education in India at the Tankas school in Dharamsala.

Trompe l'oeil from the Casa Fichter in Milan, 1997.

After trying and testing different painting techniques, he has become quite proficient with the airbrush.  He cites Francesco Radino, the photographer, as an influence.  He began with body painting, even using a client's chocolate to paint models.

A 2004 ad for Magnum Chocolate.

In 2000, he began his "Handimals", for which he is most famous and applauded. This process takes from two to ten hours, and his models must keep their hands absolutely still.  In 2007, he was awarded Animal Planet's Hero of the Year award. These are incredible not only for the painting, but also for the way the hands are placed.....

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To see his work go to his website.

All images courtesy of his website.

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Cars, Sex, and Movies

Movie poster image courtesy of John Story.

My parents never went to drive-in theaters; actually they hardly went to theaters at all.  But I remember fondly going to the drive-in with neighbors and the families of friends.  On a summer night in Southern California, not much could be finer.  I remember getting really comfortable, often among the cushions spread in the bed of a truck, and eating food that we brought in ourselves - everything from real dinners to  homemade goodies.  And if the movie sucked, well, people-watching was a lot of fun.  Especially the horny teenagers, of which there were lots.

Sappington, Missouri.  Image courtesy of Stan Galczynski.

By the time I was a teenager, going to drive-ins was a thing of the past, and there were very few left.  Yes, the sound was always sucky and sometimes you had to move around to find a speaker that worked (before they began broadcasting the soundtrack over the radio), and if the lot wasn't slanted right you'd have to put up with people walking across your field of vision.  The screens themselves were often in need of repair.  I remember someone who lived in an apartment where you could see the screen if you hung out the window, and I thought that was pretty cool and where I would want to live someday (I didn't consider the fact that I'd have to hear the same movie night after night.)

Radio frequency sign at ticket booth.
Image courtesy of Dave Page.

The peak of popularity for drive-ins was 1958, when there were about 5,000 drive-ins operating in the United States.  Today there are less than 500.  There are many reasons for the decline:  rising land values; daylight savings; video rentals; the advent of color television; and getting decent (first-run was almost impossible) films are just some of them.  The rising cost of real estate due to urban sprawl may have been the single biggest deterrent.  And showtimes were limited to after dark, although there were experiments with daytime showings under tents which failed. Weather, too, played a significant role - movies were often not viewable in inclement weather, making the drive-in experience a seasonal activity in some climates.

A drive-in in Dickson City, Pennsylvania.  Image courtesy of Arnold Schuff.

There is actually a patent held for the "invention" of the drive-in theater.  U.S. Patent 1,909,537 was issued to Richard M. Hollingshead, Jr. on May 16, 1933.  He opened the first one in Camden, New Jersey on June 6th of that year.  It had a 40 x 50 foot screen with 400 slots.  It only existed for three years, but by that time the idea caught on and drive-ins opened in other states.  Hollingshead originally planned his "invention" at his home, nailing a screen to trees, and determining the space for vehicles in his driveway.

Hollingshead's drive-in.  Image courtesy of www.wired.com.

Because drive-ins were a popular dating venue they gained a reputation for being "dens of iniquity", and the media called them "passion pits."  They also tended to show "B" movies.  Soon they began to offer exploitation films, some made specifically for drive-ins.  In the 70s, some drive-ins began showing porno films in an attempt to generate more income.  This became problematic in crowded areas, and even at drive-ins in remote, rural areas.  It was difficult to be sure the viewers were of age.

Newspaper ad for the Evansville, Indiana Westside Drive-in.
Image courtesy of Bruce Lacoste.

Ad for the Rustic Drive-in in North Smithfield,
Rhode Island.  Image courtesy of Quahog.

Some drive-ins lent themselves to other activities, such as religious services on Sunday, swap meets, flea markets, and concerts.  To augment the money they made from sales at snack bars or concession stands, some drive-ins had playground areas for children, petting zoos, miniature golf, and sit-down restaurants.  Because cars often snuck people in without paying for them, drive-ins started to charge per car admission prices.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Concession at the Fort Myers, Florida drive-in.  Image courtesy of Dave Page.

In the past decade, there has been a revival of sorts that has been called the "guerrilla drive-in movement."  Showings are advertised online, and films are projected on the walls of buildings, warehouses, or even giant bridge pillars.  Most of these showings are cult, independent, or experimental films.  Inflatable screens have been developed, and are often used for showing films outdoor, as well as for sporting and other social events.

An autokino event in Hückelhoven, Germany.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

An inflatable screen in Brussels, Belgium.  Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Those of us of a certain age remember a classic comedy routine by Cheech & Chong - Pedro and Man at the Drive-In (on their album Los Cochinos.)  There are a limited number of drive-ins left in the U.S., which is sad because great childhood memories are meant to be shared.

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Unless otherwise noted, images courtesy of www.drive-ins.com

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