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Original filePlate II: The Conjunction of the Alchemical King and Queen
Alchemical scene showing two putti holding philosopher's stone containing image of Hermes, below which are a man and a woman kneeling before furnace where transmutation is to take place LCCN96504158
About This Work
This black-and-white engraving is divided into two registers. In the upper register, two muscular putti float among clouds beneath a radiant, anthropomorphic sun, supporting a large, almond-shaped mandorla containing a nude, youthful figure of Hermes carrying a caduceus. In the lower register, a man in 17th-century attire and a woman in a modest gown kneel in profile, hands clasped, facing a brick furnace positioned between them. The furnace features a central teardrop emblem, a funnel-shaped vessel, and a small fire burning in the hearth below, flanked by two circular empty frames and two arched window motifs.
This image is Plate 2 from the *Mutus Liber* (Silent Book), a famous 17th-century alchemical work entirely composed of symbolic engravings without explanatory text, intended to guide the practitioner through the stages of the Great Work.