The Green Lion Devouring the Sun

This black-and-white woodcut depicts a lion standing on its hind legs, its body turned in profile while its head is tilted upward to consume a radiant sun face. The lion features a prominent, shaggy mane and distinct wings folded against its back. The sun is depicted as a circular human face with melancholic eyes and wavy rays extending from its perimeter, currently held between the lion's jaws. The scene is set on a hatched, rounded ground plane.

This image is a quintessential emblem from the 'Rosarium philosophorum' (1550), symbolizing the 'green lion' of alchemy—a metaphor for the acidic solvent (often vitriol) used to dissolve the gold of the sun during the chemical transmutation process. It represents the crucial step of 'solutio', where the fixed, solar nature of gold is broken down into its base components.