Prince of Hell (The Garden of Earthly Delights)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In the hell panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights there is a bird man sitting on an object that may be a toilet or a throne[1]. It is the panel's centerpiece and features the gigantic bird-headed monster feasting on human corpses, which he excretes through a cavity below him, into the transparent chamber pot on which he sits. The monster is sometimes referred to as the "Prince of Hell", a name derived from the cauldron he wears on his head, perhaps representing a debased crown.
As Paul Rumsey has noted, the bubble beneath the monstrous figure is an instance of an amniotic sac: "he sits on a birthing chair and beneath the chair is a huge blue amniotic bubble containing two people, one of them is slipping out of the bubble into a pit."
Art historian Walter Samuel Gibson compares the monster to a similar figure in the 12th century Irish religious text Vision of Tundale, who feeds on the souls of corrupt and lecherous clergy.
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