Satyrs Puzzling over an Anamorphosis

A group of satyrs—simple creatures who are half-man and half-goat—gather around a table to discuss the elephant in the room. Or, rather, the elephant that isn’t in the room, despite its reflection in the cylindrical mirror that sits atop the table. Is the elephant in the mirror? How did it get there? And what is the elephant’s relationship to the puzzling drawing on the table? The Latin phrase—format et illustrat—seems to sum up the mirror’s role: “It shapes and explains.”