| <<< back to gallery | ||
 |
HARE COCK STANDING ON COCK Here the hare metamorphoses into a cock with a cock’s beak and plumage apparently showing that she can outdo him and standing on him to demonstrate her superiority, a kind of “Prima inter Pares” or “First among Peers.” But on these folios in the Pontifical the salt is being purified before consecrated, and here the Bishop prays for all signs of evil to be frightened away and all kinds of monstrosities cast out. The hare grotesque might allude to the impurities being addressed in the prayer. (Cambridge, Fitzwilliam MS 298, fol. 15v.) Oval tray with ball feet
|
|