This 1902 menu image of an elephant in an apron, holding a tray of bananas and opening a bottle of champagne with its trunk, was created by the French illustrator and watercolor artist Auguste Vimar. Born in Marseille, France, in 1851, he became an illustrator for children’s books and also contributed some of his wonderful animal images to Le Figaro Illustré. He died in 1916. The wily fox and the little monkey chef were part of Vimar’s contribution to the fashion at that time for fantastical art images – later this style of artwork became known as "magical realism".

Other menus in this series feature a hippopotamus, a lion, a tiger, an ostrich, an orangutan, a kangaroo, a rhinoceros, a fox, and a giraffe. Including this elephant, that makes a total of ten in the collection.

Courtesy Private Collection.