Perfectionis Ostensio — The Rebis Crowned

A winged, crowned androgyne stands triumphant on a coiled serpent, flanked by a lion and a phoenix-like bird — the finished Stone made visible.

Work: Rosarium Philosophorum
Artist / creator: Unknown (anonymous woodcut artist)
Origin & date: Text first printed Frankfurt, 1550; this scan is the 1610 Basel reprint (Artis Auriferae, quam chemiam vocant)
Held by: SLUB Dresden (Saxon State and University Library)

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 8x10 cleanly.

$24.00

The story

The Rosarium’s final woodcut shows a single crowned figure with wings spread, one hand lifting a cup of flowers, the other grasping a serpent, standing atop a coiled dragon, a lion and a long-necked bird at its feet. Alchemists called this composite being the rebis ("two-thing"), a fused hermaphrodite figure representing sun and moon, sulphur and mercury, no longer opposed but permanently joined in one incorruptible body — the philosophers’ stone made visible. Its caption, "Aenigma Regis," calls it a king no earthly creature could rival, born through art rather than nature. Closing a sequence that opened with two separate crowned figures at a fountain, this plate answers that first image directly: the wings suggest the volatile principle has been fixed without losing its subtlety, and the serpent underfoot marks base matter as finally, permanently mastered.

About this reproduction

Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from SLUB Dresden (Saxon State and University Library)’s open-access release.
Printed to order on archival cotton-rag stock, pigment inks rated 100+ years.
Color-managed to the source scan.
Ships in 5–8 business days; satisfaction guaranteed.

Image courtesy of SLUB Dresden (Saxon State and University Library), Public Domain Mark 1.0.

In situ