Black Beside White

Two flasks, one filled with solid black and the other with a pale, cloudy white.

Work: Von der Universal Tinctur (author's holograph manuscript)
Artist / creator: Christian Wilhelm von Krohnemann (d. 1686)
Origin & date: Bayreuth, 1677
Held by: Wellcome Collection, London

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 30x40 cleanly.

$24.00

The story

Two flasks stand together, one filled with a solid, flat black and the other with a pale, cloudy white. They are the starkest pair in the book. Christian Wilhelm von Krohnemann wrote and drew Von der Universal Tinctur himself and dated the dedication to the Princess of Brandenburg at Bayreuth, 10 August 1677. The Wellcome catalogue records him as dying in 1686. Black and white were the first two colours alchemists expected their work to pass through, and Krohnemann puts them side by side so the change is impossible to miss. It is a quiet page, and the easiest in the book to read from across a room.

About this reproduction

Faithful reproduction of a public-domain work, sourced from Wellcome Collection, London’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 the Wellcome Collection, London, licensed CC BY 4.0.

In situ