Material Object
In this piece, there is a naked woman sitting backwards on a horned animal. She appears to be older due to the wrinkles present on her face and is holding a rod that is wrapped with what appears to be a cloth, which covers only a small section of the top part of the rod. There is one short, chubby and winged being at the front of the horned animal, on the right side of the image, holding what appears to be a pot. Another one of these short figures is on the left side of the page holding another object, while also facing backwards towards the left like the witch. Two more of the small, winged beings are on the ground under the belly of the horned beast at the centre of the page. The piece itself was created by a German artist named Albrecht Dürer, who created this engraving as one of his few pieces depicting witches to emulate the hysteria around witches during this time period[1]. The old lady is a witch who is riding backwards on a goat in order to represent how witchcraft and magic is something that “reverses the natural order of things”[2]. However, what is interesting about this piece is that the small beings in the image are actually known as ‘putti’[3]. These putti beings are often depicted as chubby male children as seen in Dürer’s work and were often associated with things like “erotic arousal”[4], which then reaffirms this connection between witches and eroticism, that is most notably portrayed by the fact that the witch is not wearing clothes. This image by Dürer also reaffirms the idea portrayed by the witch in Kallimachos and Chrysorroi, that witches are in fact old women, marked by their deviation from natural things into the unnatural and by their erotic nature.
[1] The British Museum, “The Witch”
[2] The British Museum, “The Witch”
[3] Dempsey, “Inventing the Renaissance Putto”, Introduction
[4] Ibid.
The image contains four women, with three of them sitting in a circle near the bottom centre of the page, while the fourth sits on an animal at the very top. The woman sitting on the animal is sitting backwards with her body facing in the opposite direction as the animal’s body. Since this work is by Hans Baldung, who was a pupil of Albrecht Dürer[1], it is safe to assume that he took inspiration from Dürer’s work and that the backwards seating of the woman on the goat is to once again represent how witches go against that which is natural. Furthermore, Baldung depicts his witches to be naked, which reinforces the idea of witches, including the one from Kallimachos and Chrysorroi, to be erotic in nature. Another similarity between Baldung’s witches, Dürer’s witch, and the witch in Kallimachos and Chrysorroi is that they are all depicted as old women, except for the witch on the goat, as she appears to have far less wrinkles than the rest. The ground around the witches is also littered with bones and witchforks, which are items typically associated with witchcraft[2]. The cauldron on the ground is also a connection to witchcraft as it emits smoke that spews to the left of the image and contains a potion made with frogs[3]. This ties into the witch from Kallimachos and Chrysorroi as she also uses natural elements, like the apple, as a sort of container for magic in the same way the witches from Baldung’s work use frogs and other natural elements to complete their witchcraft.
[1] The British Museum, “The Witch”
[2] The British Museum, “The Witches’ Sabbath”
[3] The British Museum, “The Witches’ Sabbath”
The image contains three figures. One of the figures is in the background of the image and appears to be an old man with both his hands raised up. The other two figures are situated in the foreground and appear to be in a battle as the man on the right has struck a sword through the other figure, while also ensnaring that figure around the neck with a red rope. This depiction was created by Qadimi and belongs to the Shahnameh[1]. More specifically, the folio belongs to the story of the hero Rustam, who had to go through multiple trials to save the Shah Kai Kavus[2]. The figure who Rustam is plunging his sword through is actually a witch who had seduced Rustam with fake beauty that she had removed to display who she really was[3]. At this point, Rustam at which Rustam decides to kill her with his sword[4]. Unlike the other witches that have been examined thus far, this witch is not drawn as an old woman, but as something that does not resemble a human. Her skin is gray and black, with dark spots on her thighs that trail down her legs. These dark spots are also on other parts of her body like her chest and arms. This strangeness in her appearance that makes her seem more like an unnatural being coincides with the witch from Kallimachos and Chryssoroi, who is repeatedly referred to as ugly and as a demon in order to be presented as something different from the rest of the characters. As such, this folio is a good example of how the witch is depicted as different not just through sexuality, or through engaging in witchcraft, but through her physical appearance as well that is often created in a way that looks unappealing.
[1] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Rustam’s Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch”
[2] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Rustam’s Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch”
[3] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Rustam’s Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch”
[4] The Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Rustam’s Fourth Course, He Cleaves a Witch”