Chimeras | 2025

Medieval bestiaries and encyclopedias were often made with the goal of presenting a total picture of the natural world through the written word. The poet Jacob van Marlant’s Der Naturen Bloeme – originally written in 1270 – is considered the first of such encyclopedias written in Dutch rather than Latin, the scholarly language of the day. Two surviving manuscripts, one from the 14th Century and one from the 15th Century are held at the KB, the national library of the Netherlands.

The compendium teems with both familiar and fantastical creatures, blending scholarly knowledge with hearsay and myth into verses which blur the lines between fact, fiction and moral instruction.

The set of ceramic sculptures exhibited were inspired by an encounter with van Marlant’s text during a visit to the KB in 2024 during a residency at the European Ceramic Workcentre (EKWC) in Oisterwijk, North Brabant. The works offer a sculptural interpretation of the distinctive miniatures and ornamentation contained within the manuscripts.

Four allegorical creatures are presented: manticore, nereid, hound and mandrake. What links these entries within the bestiary are that they exhibit chimerical traits – existing on the boundary between what is considered human, animal and botanical.

Notably, each of these creatures are examples of medieval sonic fictions: appeals to sound to tell stories. A predator who serenades with the sonorous tones of a pipe, a daughter of the sea who sings in lament and canine companions surrendered to the fatal shriek of mystical plants uprooted from the earth.

Looking at van Marlant’s book, we are presented with a wholly different cosmological system than the one we inhabit today. Although some of the ideas presented might seem antiquated, strange or downright comical from the perspective of modern society, the science of today owes its development to these early attempts at consolidating knowledge. Nearly 800 years since the publication of van Marlant’s original text, we continue to grapple with fundamental questions around our relationship to the cosmos.

Credits:

KB Den Haag: Bou Laam Wong, Ed van der Vlist, Jani van Kampen, Luuk de Jong, Madeleine van den Burg, Matthijs van der Meulen, Rianne Koning

EKWC: Froukje van Baren, Geertje Jacobs, Katrina Niebergal, Luc Daamen, Katrin König, Pierluigi Pompei, Sander Ablas, Tjalling Mulder, Yves Brandsma

Make Eindhoven: Lorena Miguel, Marc Barreda

Translation of Der Naturen Bloeme: Ad Davidse

Special thanks: GB van Hoek, Kevin Rouff, Leonie Brander, Olivier de Gruijter & Paco Böckelmann

Studio Photos: Olivier De Gruijter

Exhibition Photos: Beeldstudio KB, Jacqueline v/d Kort