AN ITALIAN GRISAILLE SCAGLIOLA PANEL

Almost certainly conceived to be displayed upright and probably mounted alongside further such panels, it is based on the 1515 woodcut by the celebrated German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) depicting the gift from King Muzafar of Cambodia to King Manuel I of Portugal.
Originating from India, and the first rhinoceros to be seen in Europe in modern times, it had arrived in Lisbon on 20 May 1515, but died in a shipwreck off the coast of Italy on its way to Pope Leo X, to whom King Manuel I had sent the rhinoceros as a gift.