throughmirrorA different way of seeing
Two perspective drawings of tables with congruent parallelogram-shaped tops.
Look closely. Let the image settle.
Size & geometry / 1981 / 1990

Shepard’s tables

Two different-looking tabletops share the same outline.

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Compare the tabletops alone, ignoring their legs. A tracing of one tabletop will fit the other after rotation.

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History, evidence & image credit

THE IMAGE IN THIS ARCHIVE

Lbeaumont

Original file & attribution · CC BY-SA 4.0

Original image downloaded from Wikimedia Commons; the downloaded file is unchanged. Gallery previews may be resized or converted to WebP; animated previews show the first frame.

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Frequently asked questions

What is Shepard’s tables?

Two different-looking tabletops share the same outline.

What should I look for in Shepard’s tables?

Compare the tabletops alone, ignoring their legs. A tracing of one tabletop will fit the other after rotation.

What explains Shepard’s tables?

The drawing triggers an interpretation of flat shapes as surfaces in depth. Perceived foreshortening is corrected differently for each table, making congruent two-dimensional outlines seem unlike one another.

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Two perspective drawings of tables with congruent parallelogram-shaped tops.

Shepard’s tables