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Original fileWapenschild van Godfried Steeghius
About This Work
A central heraldic shield featuring six lilies and a hunting horn is surmounted by a barred knight's helmet and an imperial crown. An eagle with spread wings perches atop the crown, symbolizing the Holy Roman Empire, and the entire composition is enclosed within an oval laurel wreath. A rectangular cartouche at the bottom contains a six-line Latin inscription praising the owner of the arms.
Godfried Steeghius was a Dutch physician and natural philosopher at the court of Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, a major center for Renaissance alchemy and Hermeticism. The inscription's use of the phrase 'As God in the world above, so Caesar in the world below' is a direct political application of the 'as above, so below' doctrine found in the Hermetic Emerald Tablet.
Inscriptions
Corniculum resonat Godefridi lilia Steeghij. Surgere sena simul numine Cæsareo. Digna coronari iusta in sublimia ferri Alite communi Cæsaris atq Jovis. Ut Deus in supero sic mundo Cæsar in imo Virtutum stimulos præmia distribuit
Translation
Corniculum echoes the lilies of Godefridus Steegh. Six rise together by imperial divinity. Worthy to be crowned, rightly to be borne to the heights, By the common auspices of Caesar and Jove. As God in the heavens, so Caesar in the world below, Distributes the rewards of virtue’s impulses.
Connected Texts
The Emerald Tablet
The inscription's phrasing 'Ut Deus in supero sic mundo Caesar in imo' mirrors the Hermetic principle of macrocosm and microcosm.
Godfried Steeghius
The print depicts the personal heraldry of this influential Rudolfine physician and philosopher.
Provenance & Source
Object
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
paper
height 198 mm x width 128 mm
decorative
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 2, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.