[a hanging incense burner with a depiction of virtue] · Centre for Early Modern Visual Culture

Title: [a hanging incense burner with a depiction of virtue]
Subject: Houyhnhnms (Fictitious Characters); Yahoos (Fictitious Characters); satire; Incense burners and containers; fictional works; Fictitious characters; imaginary places; imaginary creatures; Virtue
Period: 1800-1850;
Description: Here we see a hanging incense burner with a depiction of virtue and humans. Virtue is represented by a woman, with a Houyhnhnm on her helmet. She holds a mirror up to a man. While the man is dressed like an upper class European, in the reflection of the mirror we see a yahoo from the Country of the Houyhnhnms. This represents Gulliver’s disdain for humans, feeling that all humans lack the virtue of the Houyhnhnms, and are made of vice. The same image appears in the 1839 Krabbe edition.
Image Creator: Grandville (Illustrator)
Type: StillImage; Vignettes
Identifier: mta:21881
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_21881_OBJ.png
Collection: Gulliver's Travels
Subject: Houyhnhnms (Fictitious Characters); Yahoos (Fictitious Characters); satire; Incense burners and containers; fictional works; Fictitious characters; imaginary places; imaginary creatures; Virtue