Composite manuscript with alchemistic treatises
A composite alchemical manuscript from 1593, held in a Swiss library, with handwritten German-style text pages framing hand-painted allegorical miniatures. The pictures show a winged figure with a star beside a red-robed man, a crowned king under a sun, and a nude figure in a coffin beneath banners, with a crowned couple in oval frames. A designer could take the saturated flat colours, gilt-edged framing and symbolic emblem compositions as a model for mystical or occult graphics.
