In the fairy tale the painting represents the here and now. The book is actually divided into five sections, through which the key character, the muse, leads us.

Practical! On Wednesday afternoons I could be practically anything. What's up?

You see, my ambition was not to confound the engineering world but simply to create a beautiful piece of art.

The chariot was purchased by a private collector who took it home to New York. I take pleasure in knowing that it was built to last for at least a thousand years.

The dog and the rabbit are telling us not to chase unattainable material goals.

I took lots of photographs and had planned to write a treatise on how it worked, but I quickly got bored with that idea and wrote a scientific fairy tale instead.

As I was working I noticed that the way I designed the differential gearing actually created a spare drive that sat directly below the emperor's feet, or where they would be if he were to sit in the chariot.