The Rhinoceros (Ganda), the sacred animal at the center of the first Act of our story. Given by Sultan Muzzafar Shah II to the Portugese, Ganda sailed first to Portugal, and then set out to Rome, only to drown at sea when the ship hit a storm off the Ligurian coast. An early colonial displacement, and the inspiration for Durer’s print.

Albrecht Durer
The Rhinoceros, 1515
Wood engraving
Metropolitan Museum of Art

Image Attribution:
Albrecht Dürer, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons