[Gulliver’s first meal at the Court of Laputa] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [Gulliver’s first meal at the Court of Laputa]
Period: 1800-1850;
Geographic: Laputa; England
Description: Here we see Gulliver’s meal at the court in Laputa. It is served by a Laputan servant, identified by his tilting head and eyes – one of which is turned inwards, the other looking up. The meal was presented in different shapes. In the first course – seen here – all the food was cut into geometric shapes. For example, the mutton was cut into a triangle, the beef into rhomboids, and the pudding into a cycloid. The bread was cut into cylinders and other mathematical shapes. In the second course, the food all resembled musical instruments. For example, the duck was cut to look like a violin, sausages and puddings were made to look like flutes and oboes, and veal in the shape of a harp. In this image we see the table set and served for the first course, with the beef in the shape of a rhombus sitting on the plates and the servant serving the pudding in the shape of cycloids. The same image appears in the 1839 Krabbe edition.
Image Creator: Grandville (Illustrator)
Type: StillImage; Vignettes
Identifier: mta:21677
Language: ger
Source Name: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder
Parent Collection: Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder Vol. II. Vignettes by Grandville (1843); Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder Vol. II. Vignettes by Grandville (1843)
Image: mta_21677_OBJ.png
Collection: Gulliver's Travels
Subject: Dinners; Satire; Scholars; Fictional Works; Fictitious Characters; Imaginary Places; Imaginary Creatures

Media: mta_21677_OBJ.png