Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - `Novelgilio Venale` - photo 1
Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - `Novelgilio Venale` - photo 2
Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - `Novelgilio Venale` - photo 3
Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - `Novelgilio Venale` - photo 4

Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - `Novelgilio Venale`

Lot 46
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
Classic
Sold
£ 15 120
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 794364
Lot 46 | Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - 'Novelgilio Venale'
Estimate value
£ 10 000 – 15 000
Anonymous Italian alchemist and metallurgist - 'Novelgilio Venale'

Saggio analitico docimastico sperimentale, an encrypted alchemical manuscript, in cipher (Italian), decorated manuscript on paper [northern Italy], 1754.

A fascinating alchemical-metallurgical manuscript, written entirely in cipher, and illustrated with a series of watercolours depicting alchemical vases and furnaces.



165 x 113mm. v+238+iii leaves, all on paper except f.83 vellum, apparently complete, pagination 1-384 followed here, partially foliated, ff.171-2, 188-207, and 218-220 blank, c.30-32 lines written entirely in substitution cipher, the decrypted language Italian, 18 plates (including one fold-out) with monochromatic watercolour pictures of furnaces and alchemical vases, one inserted vellum leaf with a cabalistic wheel the phrase: ‘Innues. V. Lilia. Velo.’ (small tear to lower margin of p.1, some foxing and browning, a few stains, e.g. to pp.165 and 172). Contemporary blind-tooled vellum over pasteboards, brass clasps (yellowed, spine worn).



Provenance:

(1) The text of the manuscript is written entirely in substitution cipher, where a letter of the alphabet is replaced by a specific symbol. The titlepage (p.1) can be deciphered as follows: ‘Saggio analitico docimastico sperimentale et filochimici riflessi di Novelgilio Venale crisopeio: all aquisto et coltura delli amatori dell’arte idropirotica si espone / 1754’. Novelgilio (Novel Gilio – ‘New Lilly’) Venale could be an anagram for the name of the author, and indeed this seems echoed in the inserted vellum emblematic diagram on f.83: ‘Innues. V. Lilia. Velo’. He calls himself a ‘crisopeio’, or a ‘maker of gold’ (apparently a hapax legomenon in the Italian language). Perhaps a prospector, he goes into detailed descriptions of the mines around Bergamo (see p.49 ff.).

(2) Paris, Druot, 28 April 2001, lot 138.



Content: The content of the manuscript is undoubtedly alchemical in nature, with a focus on metallurgy and minerallurgy, although the author also delves into medicine and toxicology. Its deciphered opening reads: ‘Proemio del contenuto in questa opera. Dovendosi apiliare allo studo analitico delle miniere resta necessario per iscoprirne li accidenti […]’, ending on p.371: ‘[…] essicare il Magistero’. The author cites Paracelsus (p.123 ff.) and the Paduan 15th-century alchemist Bernardo Trevisano (p.182); he uses alchemical symbols (for sulphur and mercury, for example, see p.137), and draws extensively on the works of the late 17th-century metallurgist and author Christoph Andreas Schlüter (see p.35). He describes methods of mineral extraction that he has devised himself (p.36 ff.). Index ff.208-217v.



The exquisitely rendered watercolours depicting alchemical vases and furnaces (numbered 1-18, with no 5 labelled but not drawn) are on ff.221v, 222v, 223v, 224v, 226v, 227v, 228v, 229v, 230v, 231v, 232v, 233v, 234v, 235v, 236v, 237, 237v, 238 (foldout).





Special notice


No VAT on hammer price or buyer's premium.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Medicine & science
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
13.07.2022 – 13.07.2022
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>