The Knight Upon Two Fountains

An armored knight stands with sword drawn atop two fountains, crowned by a gold star and a silver one. The shield he bears carries an inscription: make one water out of two, give it to drink, then remake it from that water again "and you will have multiplied the Stone." The image belongs to the manuscript’s Second Treatise, the theoretical groundwork laid before the parables begin, and reads as an instruction in miniature: the "two waters" were understood as the separated principles of the work, commonly likened to sun and moon, sulfur and mercury, that had to be rejoined into a single substance before anything else could proceed. The gold and silver stars crowning the knight repeat that same pairing above his head. It is one of the plainer plates, but it states the manuscript’s central operation before the imagery turns strange.

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-00501