How to Cite
Purš, Ivo: An Alchemical Medal and its Iconographic Sources in Printed Books, in Wagner, Berit and Gannon, Corinna (Eds.): Opus magnum: Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie, Heidelberg: arthistoricum.net, 2024, p. 323–330. https://doi.org/10.11588/arthistoricum.1311.c19551
License (Chapter)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Identifiers (Book)
ISBN 978-3-98501-245-9 (PDF)
ISBN 978-3-98501-246-6 (Hardcover)
Published
05/08/2024
An Alchemical Medal and its Iconographic Sources in Printed Books
The production of alchemical medals was popular in the 17th and first half of the 18th century based on reports of several spectacular transmutations of base metal into gold. The alchemical medal from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg (16th/17th c., inv. no. Med 5830) does not intended to commemorate a specific event of transmutation but its iconography refers to this goal of alchemy and to the importance of divine favor for the successful outcome of laboratory work. The so-called Seals of Philosophers from Johann Daniel Mylius’s Opus medico-chymicum (Frankfurt, 1618/20) were used as templates.
