The Hermetica

SHELF V · Emblemata

The Emblem Shelf

Memento mori and hermetic emblems — the pictures people used to think with, curated with restraint: the hourglass, the ouroboros, the skull that meant remember.

The Ouroboros — from the Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra, After a Greek alchemical manuscript, reproduced 16th c.

reproduced 16th c.

The Ouroboros

A line that closes on itself, and inside it, everything.

The Hourglass and the Skull — from a memento mori emblem book, Engraver unknown, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Hourglass and the Skull

A life measured against a small glass of falling sand.

Et sic in infinitum — from Utriusque Cosmi Historia, Robert Fludd, 1617

1617

Et sic in infinitum

The beginning of the world, shown as an empty frame.

The Conjunction — from the Rosarium Philosophorum, After the 1550 woodcuts, 1550

1550

The Conjunction

The alchemical marriage, drawn as plainly as a folk tale.

The Oratory and the Laboratory — from the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae, Heinrich Khunrath, 1595

1595

The Oratory and the Laboratory

A whole philosophy staged as a room you could walk into.

The Dance of Death — from Les simulachres de la Mort, Hans Holbein the Younger, 1538

1538

The Dance of Death

Whatever your station, the same partner waits.

The Emerald Tablet — from the Musaeum Hermeticum, Engraved by Matthäus Merian, c. 1625

c. 1625

The Emerald Tablet

The words given a body, and the tradition its founding image.

Boehme's Philosophick Globe — from the works of Jacob Boehme, Jacob Boehme, c. 1620

c. 1620

Boehme's Philosophick Globe

Theology drawn as an engine of concentric wheels.

The Vanitas — from a vanitas emblem, Engraver unknown, c. 1650

c. 1650

The Vanitas

A picture built to make you feel the time you spend looking.