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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileHandpauke, Schellen
This engraving is divided horizontally into two sections. The top panel features two tautly-skinned drums resting on a simple ground line, both featuring star-like geometric rosettes on their sides and tension ropes. The bottom panel shows a desolate landscape with two gnarled, leafless trees from which four large, spherical jingle-style bells are suspended by ropes. Below the trees, a person dressed in period clothing lies face-down on the earth, appearing exhausted or fallen, with a fortress wall visible in the distant background.
This illustration originates from Athanasius Kircher's 'Musurgia Universalis' (1650), a monumental encyclopedic work exploring the mathematical, physical, and philosophical dimensions of music, sound, and the harmony of the spheres within the Jesuit intellectual tradition.
N. 1 N. 2
Translation
No. 1 No. 2
Athanasius Kircher, Musurgia Universalis
The image is a plate from this influential 17th-century treatise on music theory and acoustics.
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.