A rare German gilt bronze alloy model of a giraffe, possibly 17th century, likely Augsburg or Nuremberg, the animal portrayed with a turned neck and stylised features, 18.5cm high The present bronze is possibly an early rendition of a giraffe as viewed by European craftsmen. The sloped back, buckled hind legs and elongated face may not have derived from a first-hand encounter with the exotic animal, but instead bear distinct similarities to prints of giraffes that circulated at the time. A direct influence may have been the Icones, by 16th century Swiss naturalist Conrad Gessner, which includes an illustration of a giraffe in an almost identical pose and with similarly pointed features. Exotic animals provided popular subject matter for bronziers and silver smiths in 16th and 17th century Southern Germany, where they were not only seen as collectible curiosities but also used as table ornaments. A well-known example of this tradition is the silver ostrich by Elias Zorer in the Wallace Collection, whose stylised and elongated features share a similar visual language to the present bronze.