Peacock and Salamanders

This has no digestive organs, and gets no food but from the fire, in which it constantly renews its scaly skin. The salamander, which renews its scaly skin in the fire, --for virtue. ~Leonardo Da Vinci

Both peacocks and salamanders have a rich mythological heritage. Salamanders hold a rich cultural heritage in folklore, mythology, alchemy, and heraldry.

The yellow spotted fire salamander, despite its name, is an amphibian, one who lives part of his life both in and out of water. The mythical salamander is a lizard, a reptile, who like the phoenix, is born from fire. Some Fire salamanders are born as fully-formed salamanders, while others are born as tadpoles.

Pricing for Peacock and Salamanders

The Peacock and Salamanders panel is 8 x 30 inches, on five 8 x 6 inch tiles. It can be modified, as shown in the fireplace tiles, to a width of 6 or 7 inches (requires cutting) on four tiles.

Pricing: $1235 / $2350 (two facing panels)

The Salamander in Folklore

Aristotle and Pliny the Elder talk much of the salamander in Books 10 and 29, of Natural History. Pliny claims that the salamander's body is so cold it can extinguish fire. In medieval alchemy, elemental spirits are created from the element they're associated with. The salamander contains the elemental spirit of Fire, the others being Sylph (air), Gnome (Earth), and Undine (water). In heraldry, salamanders represent the mastery of passion passing through its firees umblemished. The salamander was the icon used by King Francis I of France for his sign and motto.

In the Talmud, the salamander is a creature that is a product of fire.