The Twelve Celestial Houses
Engraver unknown, c. 17th century
$140
Print check at 12 x 16 in: 162 dpi, good. Trimmed 5.2% to the shape of the print.
Shipping to a US address: $24.80 for this piece, from the print room in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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An engraved oval, its rim divided into the twelve celestial houses — the fixed compartments of the sky through which the signs and planets were seen to pass — each cusp ruled off and marked with its glyph and degree, a portrait medallion at the centre. The figure is a nativity cast, long after the fact, for Alexander the Great: the kind of retrospective horoscope early-modern astrologers liked to draw for the famous dead. It is a schematic of a complete symbolic architecture — twelve rooms for the whole of a life, hung above the horizon. We frame it as design and as history: the sky drawn as a house with twelve doors.
- Maker
- Engraver unknown
- Date
- c. 17th century
- Medium of the original
- Engraving
- Original held by
- Wellcome Collection, London
- Credit
- Wellcome Collection, London
- Rights
- Public domain, verified
- Catalogue number
- PA-00466
| Picture | 12 x 16 in |
|---|---|
| Outside size | 13.6 x 17.6 in |
| Depth | 0.9 in (22 mm) |
| Weight | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: shipped weight per size and frame]] |
| Hanging | [[REAL PROOF NEEDED: hanging hardware Prodigi fits to this frame]] |
| Material | Enhanced matte art paper, 200 gsm; acrylic glazing |
| Made in | Charlotte, North Carolina, by Prodigi |
Before a size goes on sale, the file is measured against it: pixels per inch at that size, how much of the picture a crop would lose, tone and sharpness. A size that fails is not offered, so there is nothing to choose wrong.
| Size | dpi | Grade | How it fits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8 x 10 in | 257 | Excellent | Trimmed 1.1% |
| 11 x 14 in | 185 | Good | Trimmed 0.7% |
| 12 x 16 in | 162 | Good | Trimmed 5.2% |
| Size | Why |
|---|---|
| 8 x 12 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 12 x 18 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 16 x 20 in | 128 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 16 x 24 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 18 x 24 in | 108 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 20 x 30 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 24 x 30 in | 85 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 24 x 36 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
| 30 x 40 in | 65 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 36 x 48 in | 54 dpi; a historical scan is never enlarged |
| 40 x 60 in | Wrong shape: a 16% crop |
- Scanned
- 2026-10-07
- Master file
- 2,058 x 2,600 px, srgb
- Tone
- Darks 112, lights 228 of 255; 0% clipped light, 0% clipped dark
- Colour
- 0% vivid
- Sharpness
- 40.24
- Notes
- Neutrals lean warm (yellow): the paper and varnish of the original, kept as scanned
Shipping for this piece to a US address is $24.80, the print room’s own rate, charged per piece. Checkout shows the total before you pay.
Every piece is printed after you order it, in Charlotte, North Carolina, and ships from there. For now we ship to US addresses only.
A piece that arrives damaged, misprinted or in the wrong size is replaced at our cost. The details: shipping and returns and replacements.
The Hermetica
The esoteric tradition’s emblems, astrological figures and the old charts of palmistry and phrenology.
All 58 pieces from The Hermetica
