Caption
Orang utan (Pongo pygmaeus) 1731 Physica Sacra (Sacred Physics) by Johann Scheuchzer (1672-1733). The ape is contrasted to 'Hairy Esau' in this folio copper engraving drawn by a team of engravers under the direction of Johann Andreas Pfeffel (1674-1748). The goal of Scheuchzer's work was to use the best contemporary science to illuminate the biblical account of human history in a sequence of 745 plates. Here he compares and contrasts Esau's hairiness with that of the earliest known great ape (an orangutan drawn from Tulpius in 1644). The prospect of hairy homo sylvestre 'wild men' had also fascinated natural historians including Gaspar Schott, Topsell and Gessner.
Availability
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