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Original fileTitle Page: Symbola Aureae Mensae Duodecim Nationum
M.Maier. Symbola Aureae Mensae .1617
About This Work
The image is an engraving presenting the title page for Michael Maier’s alchemical compendium, structured with a large central block of Latin text framed by twelve circular vignettes. Each vignette contains a portrait of a renowned alchemical practitioner, shown from the chest up and wearing period-specific or stylized robes and hats; several figures are depicted holding instruments such as retorts or scrolls. The composition is highly symmetrical, with the figures arranged in a ring around the text block, suggesting a scholarly 'round table' of alchemical history.
This print serves as the title page for Michael Maier’s 'Symbola Aureae Mensae Duodecim Nationum' (1617), a defense of alchemy that structures the tradition through a conceptual 'Golden Table' of twelve representative national figures. It is a fundamental text of the Rosicrucian period, intended to legitimize alchemy as a rigorous branch of natural philosophy.
Inscriptions(Latin)
SYMBOLA AVREÆ MENSÆ DVODECIM NATIONVM. HOC EST, HERMÆA SEV MERCVRII FESTA ab Heroibus duodenu fectis, arte Chymica ufe, fa- pientia & authoritate PARIBVS celebrata, ad Pyrgo- polynicen seu Aduerfarium illum tot annis iactabundum, virgini CHEMIE Iniuriam argumentis tam vitiofis, quam conuiciis argu- tis inferentem, confundendum & exarimandum, Ar- tifices verò optime de ea meritos fuo honori & famæ reftituendum, Vbi & artis continuatio & veritas inuicta 36. rationibus, & experientia librisq authorum plus quam trecenten demonftratur, Opus, ve Chemia, fic omnibus aliis Antiquitatis & re- rum feitu digniffimarum percupidis, vtiliffimum, 12. libris explicatum & traditum, figuris cupro incifis paffim adiectis, AVTHORE MICHAEL MAIERO COMITE Imperialis Confiftorii, Nobili, Exempto, Med. Doct. P. C. ohm Aulico Cæf. FRANCOFVRTI Typis Antonij Hommij, impenfis Lucz Iennis. M. DC. XVII
Translation
Symbols of the Golden Table of the Twelve Nations. That is, the Hermetic or Mercurial feast, celebrated by twelve heroes chosen by the art of chemistry, with wisdom and authority equal to [those at] Pyrgopolynices, or that adversary boasting for so many years, for the sake of the virgin Chemistry. To be confounded and examined by arguments both as vicious as the insults brought against it, and to restore the Artists well-deserving of it to their honor and fame, where both the continuity of the art and its unconquered truth are demonstrated by 36 reasons and the experience of more than three hundred books of authors. A work, just as Chemistry is, most useful to all others desiring Antiquity and matters worth knowing, explained and handed down in 12 books, with copper engravings added throughout. By author Michael Maier, Count of the Imperial Consistory, Noble, Exempt, Doctor of Medicine, P.C., formerly Court Physician. Frankfurt, printed by Antonius Hummius, at the expense of Lucas Jennis. 1617.
Connected Texts
Michael Maier
This image is the primary title page for Maier's 1617 work of the same name.
Provenance & Source
Object
engraving
laid paper
Baroque
German
emblem