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Philosophers gathering up fragments of the philosopher's stone [print] / B.P. inv.

Accession number
PML 140007, no. 134
Creator
Picart, Bernard, 1673-1733, printmaker.
Published
[Amsterdam] : [Arkstée & Merkus], 1753?
Credit line
Bequest of Gordon N. Ray, 1987.
Notes
An independent impression of a later state of a print issued as an illustration in a 1711 edition of Bonaventure Des Périers's "Cymbalum mundi, ou dialogues satyriques sur différens sujets"; the 1711 state lacks the caption text which appears to have been added for the Amsterdam edition issued by Arkstée & Merkus in 1753.
With three lines of text engraved at head of image: Mercure et Trigabus déguisez en viellards regardent les philosophes ...
Description
1 print : etching and engraving ; image: 125 x 63 mm; plate mark: 129 x 66 mm; sheet: 181 x 125 mm
Summary
Classical amphitheatre with, in the foreground, Mercury and a companion in the guise of two old men, watching some philosophers who are examining the sand of the arena and looking for the philosophical stone; three cone-shaped monuments standing in the background;. Cf. British Museum online catalog.
Classification
Department