The Celestial Figures
Figure of the Cosmos
The universe as a circle of letters.
- Work
- from Oedipus Aegyptiacus
- Maker
- Athanasius Kircher
- Date
- 1652–1654
- Source
- Published Rome, 1652–1654 · scan: Wikimedia Commons
Format
The full-resolution scan, color-managed to the source plate — yours to print, study, and explore.
Size
$29.00
The story
A cone of light falls from above into a circle ringed with stars, planets and lettered bands, with a cross at the very centre. Athanasius Kircher drew the cosmos for Oedipus Aegyptiacus, 1652–1654, as a diagram of how the divine reaches down through the heavens into matter. The Greek letters at the corners belong to his key. Strong black and white, it has the force of a woodcut and the logic of a chart.
See it on your wall
The plate, in your home
Figure of the Cosmos printed large and framed, hung in rooms like yours. Every edition ships ready to become the piece the room is built around.
About this reproduction
- A faithful reproduction of a public-domain plate — from Oedipus Aegyptiacus (1652), held by Published Rome, 1652–1654 · scan: Wikimedia Commons. The work was published before 1931 and is centuries out of copyright.
- Printed to order on 200gsm EMA matte art paper; framed pieces sit behind acrylic, no mat.
- Color-managed to the source scan; we correct nothing and invent nothing.
- Ships in 5–10 business days, rolled in a heavy-wall tube (framed pieces ship flat-packed).
- If it arrives less than perfect, we reprint or refund — your choice.
Why our plates cost more than a poster: we print from the highest-resolution scans available, at sizes where the engraving itself becomes visible — the emblem line, the letterpress bite, the registration of colour — on stock made to outlive its owner.
