England & the Rhineland, 16th–17th c.

Visit the Interior of the Earth

A hand-drawn emblem ringed by the Latin motto whose initials spell vitriol, with colours named in German.

Work: Universitätsbibliothek Kassel, 4° Ms. chem. 60
Artist / creator: Wilhelm Vernucken
Origin & date: 1586; Latin, with colours named in German
Held by: Universitätsbibliothek Kassel (4° Ms. chem. 60), via Wikimedia Commons

Format

The full-resolution color-managed file — yours to print, study, and keep.

Size

Sized to protect print quality — this scan’s resolution supports sizes up to 18x24 cleanly.

$24.00

The story

An oval drawn in brown ink holds a crowded emblem: a sun and a moon pouring into a cup, a pair of hands reaching from either side, signs for the metals, two shields and a seven-pointed star at the base. Round the rim runs the motto Visita interiora terrae, rectificando invenies occultum lapidem: visit the interior of the earth, and by purifying you will find the hidden stone. Next to each element a German word names its colour. The Commons record describes the leaf as a hand-drawn version of the emblem of the Emerald Tablet, by Wilhelm Vernucken, dated 1586, held at the university library in Kassel. The first letters of the motto spell VITRIOL, a puzzle drawn as a map.

About this reproduction

Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Universitätsbibliothek Kassel (4° Ms. chem. 60), via Wikimedia Commons’s open-access release.
Printed to order on archival cotton-rag stock, pigment inks rated 100+ years.
Color-managed to the source scan.
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In situ