A three-headed eagle in a crowned alchemical flask, representing mercury sublimated three times. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs.

Ibbs, Edith A.

Date:: 1900-1909

Reference:: 38823i

Part of:: Splendor solis

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Credit

A three-headed eagle in a crowned alchemical flask, representing mercury sublimated three times. Watercolour painting by E.A. Ibbs. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Also known as

Previous title, replaced June 2023 : A three-headed eagle in a crowned alchemical flask, representing mercury sublimated three times. Watercolour painting.

Description

Lennep remarks upon the alchemical dictum that "one must multiply the eagle in order to vanquish the lion more easily" (ibid. p. 125) Mercury is the principle of dissolution; the lion represents fixity

Publication/Creation

1900-1909

Physical description

1 painting : watercolour ; image 40.6 x 19.7 cm.

Series

Splendor solis

Contributors

Creator/production credits

Painted by Edith Annie Ibbs (1863-1937) on commission from the secretary of the Historical Medical Exhibition organized by Henry S. Wellcome (C.J.S. Thompson), ca. 1907, and subsequently exhibited in the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, Wigmore Street, London

References note

For detailed information on this series, cf. J. van Lennep, L'alchimie, Brussels 1984, pp. 110-129

This image is one of a sub-series in the 'Splendor solis', showing crowned alchemical flasks containing symbols of the various stages of the Great Work. In the original manuscript, scenes of symbolically relevant activities in village life are shown outside the image, along with an astronomical sign at the top

Reference

Wellcome Collection 38823i

Reproduction note

After: Salomon Trismosin, Splendor solis, 1582, British Library, Harley ms. 3469