The Digital Ark: Early Modern Collections of Curiosities in England and Scotland, 1580-1700
Horn that grew on the Head of Mary Davis 1668 (Ashmolean)
The Horn that grew on the Head of Mary Davis 1668 (Ashmolean).[Engraving].
Click image for full-size. PatientMary Davis (c.1596-fl. 1676) Recipient of object(s)Elias Ashmole (1617-1692) Source of object(s)Mary Davis (c.1596-fl. 1676) In Print: Early Science in Oxford. Vol. 3, 373 Description:Gunther:
Among the pictures in the [Ashmolean] Museum which belonged to Ashmole is a portrait of Mary Davis, representing the horn that grew on her head, and recording the history of the fact, viz.: 'Mary Davis of Great Saugthall, near Chester; taken anno 1668, aetatis 72. At twenty-eight years old an excrescence rose upon her head which continued thirty hears; after five years she cast these; then grew two more; after four years she cast them; these upon her head have grown four years, and are loose' (vol. 3, p. 372).