Wikimedia Commons · CC0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileChina Monumentis by Athanasius Kircher
Athanasii Kircheri e Soc. Jesu China monumentis: qua sacris qua profanis, nec non variis naturae & artis spectaculis, aliarumque rerum memorabilium argumentis illustrata
About This Work
Two Jesuit saints kneel in the clouds beneath a radiant IHS monogram, flanked by cherubim. Below them, Adam Schall von Bell in Chinese mandarin robes and Matteo Ricci in clerical dress present a map of the Chinese empire, bordered by the Great Wall. In the foreground, an armillary sphere and a quadrant are displayed, signifying the scientific and astronomical contributions of the Jesuit mission.
Athanasius Kircher used this work to integrate Chinese history into a universalist framework, famously theorizing that Chinese characters were a derivative of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The image represents the 17th-century 'Republic of Letters,' where natural philosophy, geography, and theology converged in the Baroque effort to synthesize global knowledge.