Arma Artis — The Arms of the Art

The opening image of the manuscript, before any text of instruction, is a heraldic device rather than a scene: two golden suns, each given a human face, one mounted on a shield like a coat of arms. Vines, birds, and a lute-playing monkey fill the border. Alchemists of the period commonly framed their craft as a noble "Art" with its own arms and lineage, and a gold sun stood for the completed Stone, the goal the rest of the manuscript’s images work toward. The lute-playing monkey carries an old joke: monkeys routinely stood for imitation, ars simia naturae, "art as the ape of nature." Placed first, this plate functions as a frontispiece, announcing the Work’s dignity before a single step of it is shown.

Maker

Unknown illuminator (text attributed to Salomon Trismosin)

Date

1582 copy

Medium of the original

Plate

Original held by

British Library

Credit

British Library · via Wikimedia Commons

Rights

Public domain, verified

Catalogue number

PA-00500