A giraffe depicted in Ghirlandaio's The Adoration of the Magi between 1485 and 1490
Died
January 1488 Florence, Republic of Florence
Known for
a diplomatic gift from Egypt
Owner
Lorenzo de' Medici
The Medici giraffe was a giraffe presented to Lorenzo de' Medici on November 18, 1487,[1] by al-Ashraf Qaitbay, the Burji Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, in an attempt to win the support of the Medici.
The first live giraffe in Europe and Italy since Ancient Rome, the Medici giraffe caused a great stir on its arrival in Florence. Although the Medici maintained a large menagerie and had previously featured a giant wooden model of a giraffe in the animal entertainments they provided to the citizenry, this was the first time a living example had been seen in the city.
The Medici giraffe did not survive for long, dying in January 1488; another giraffe was not seen in Europe for almost 300 years.
^Landucci, Luca (1927). A Florentine diary from 1450 to 1516. London : New York: J.M. Dent & Sons; Dutton. p. 44. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
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