The Chariot of Stags

A gilded chariot drawn by two stags races through the clouds over a cauldron boiling on its fire.

Work: Thesaurus thesaurorum et secretum secretissimum (Wellcome MS 4775)
Artist / creator: Unknown author and illustrator
Origin & date: Probably c. 1725 (catalogue date "[1725?]"); Latin, with additions in German verse
Held by: Wellcome Collection, London (MS 4775)

Format

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

Size

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$24.00

The story

Two stags pull a gilded chariot through a bank of cloud. A winged driver holds the reins, and a seated passenger rides behind, the wheels drawn in careful perspective. The whole top of the page is motion. The bottom is the opposite: a heavy cauldron on a tripod over red flames, a round flask resting in it, and a retort leading off to a receiver on its own small fire. Page 42 of the Thesaurus thesaurorum carries no scripture, only the picture and the apparatus. The pairing is the point. What the alchemist sees through the glass is slow heat and condensation, and what the manuscript asks him to imagine is a team of deer at full gallop above his head.

About this reproduction

Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Wellcome Collection, London (MS 4775)’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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Image courtesy of the Wellcome Collection, London, licensed CC BY 4.0.

In situ