[AURACH DE ARGENTINA, Georgius] - photo 1
[AURACH DE ARGENTINA, Georgius] - photo 2
[AURACH DE ARGENTINA, Georgius] - photo 3

[AURACH DE ARGENTINA, Georgius]

Lot 36
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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£ 32 760
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1105710
Lot 36 | [AURACH DE ARGENTINA, Georgius]
Estimate value
£ 20 000 – 30 000
[AURACH DE ARGENTINA, Georgius]

Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, in Latin and German, illustrated manuscript on paper [Germany, c.1550]

The Pretiosissimum Donum Dei, 'the most precious gift of God', is one of the most influential and important alchemical works of the Early Modern Period, containing some of the most famous images in alchemical iconography: a lively series of 12 illustrations depicting the personifications of alchemical processes.



202 x 139mm. iii + 24 + ii leaves, complete, up to 28 lines of text in two hands, one a clean 16th-century italicised Latin hand, the second a 17th-century German Schrift, 12 coloured illustrations of flasks and alchemical processes (margins and edges smudged and thumbed, a few stains and creases, some loss of pigment to some of the figures, e.g. to the copulating pair on f.6). Modern armorial calf binding gilt of Robert Crewe-Milnes, Marquess of Crewe (edges a little scuffed).



Provenance:

(1) Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1858-1945), British Liberal politician, statesman and writer: his armorial bookplate ‘E libris Roberti Comitis de Crewe’ inside upper cover, and his armorial binding with a garb stamped on the upper cover.



(2) Sir Clive Coates (1879-1971), of Helperby Hall, North Yorkshire: his book label ‘CC’ on inside upper cover. In 1946 he married Lady Celia Crewe-Milne and changed his surname to Milne-Coates.



(3) Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica MS 10: bookplate on f.i.



Content: Donum Dei, beginning: ‘Ortus Diviciarum Sapiencie Dei’, ff.1-24v.



Around 60 manuscripts of the Donum Dei have been identified by Adam McLean, the earliest dating from the 15th century, but the majority from the 16th and 17th centuries. Among these are British Library MS Sloane 2560; Leiden Ms Vossianus Chym F 29; Basel MS. L IV 1; Rome, Biblioteca dell'Accademia dei Lincei, Verginelli-Rota Ms 3; New Haven, Beinecke Library, MS Mellon 50; Paris, Bibliothèque L'Arsenal MS. 975; and Rome, Bib. Naz. Cent., MS. Gesuiti 2465-336. They appear in Latin, German, French and Italian, and one in English (London, British Library MS. Harley 6453). Some of these versions ascribe the work to Georgius Aurach de Argentina (sometimes 'Anrach') and date it to the beginning of the 15th century; others to Raymond Lulle, Jean de Damas and Franciscus Epithemeus. Little is known about Aurach himself: Lenglet du Fresnoy (Histoire de la philosophie hermetique, 1744), attributes to him an Hortus Divitiarum and a Latin-German Rosarium which no longer survives, and also a text on the Philosophers’ Stone De Lapie philosophorum, printed in Basel in 1686. The Donum Dei is the most important of these texts: a synthesis of the alchemical process with maxims drawn from Trismegistus, Aristotle and Arnaldus de Villa Nova, among others, and describes the evolution of white and red stones through the different phases of the Magnum Opus of alchemical transmutation. With the Rosarium Philosophorum of Arnaldus de Villa Nova and the Splendor Solis of Salmon Trismosin, Aurach’s Donum Dei is one of the earliest testaments to this kind of alchemical imagery (Aurach stated he painted the images himself). The present copy has an added German translation of the Latin, and references the printed edition of Turba Philosophorum (Basel: Ludwig Ko¨nigs, 1613) and the ‘nova editionis’.



The subjects of the illustrations are as follows:

1) A King and a Queen (representing opposite elements, Sulphur and Mercury, the Sun and the Moon), stand either side of a flask containing a green liquid and six flowers. f.1.

2) The naked King and Queen are now inside the flask with the green liquid, and a child appears in the neck. Three flowers grow out of the next. The text begins: ‘Eamus quesitum quattuor elementorum naturas quas de ventre terre formice [sic] adducunt.’ f.4.

3) The King and Queen fornicate in a purple liquid in the flask, surrounded by two black heads and two white heads; a red-winged angel above them and a spray of multi-coloured flowers emerging from the flask. The text begins: ‘Ex quattuor elementis iste lapis compositus est’ f.6.

4) The fornicating King and Queen disappear into a black liquid. The text begins: ‘Putrefactio philosophorum. Caput corvi.’ f.8.

5) The flask is shown with a clearer grey layer in the middle of the black liquid. The text begins: ‘Caput corvi. Nigredo transparens.’ f.9.

6) Within the clearer liquid at the bottom of the flask intertwined serpents appear. The text begins : ‘Caput corvi. Terra nigra et fetulenta […]’ f.11.

7) A naked man appears in the flask. The text begins ‘Caput corvi. Oleum philosophorum’ f.13.

8) A dragon appears in the flask. The lighter liquid is labelled ‘Aqua’. The text begins: ‘Domus Tenebrosa. Sulphur philosophorum’ f.15.

9) The lower part of the flask contains the lighter liquid labelled ‘Aqua’, while the top part is filled with multi-coloured drops. The text begins: ‘Domus Tenebrosa. Sulphur philosophorum’ f.17.

10) A bright pink flower appears inside the flask. The text begins: ‘Cinis cinerum’ f.19.

11) The Queen stands within the flask, on a white liquid labelled ‘Elixir album’. The text begins: ‘Rosa alba’ f.21.

12) The King stands within the flask, on a red liquid labelled ‘Elixir rubeum’. The text begins: ‘Rosa rubea’ f.23.

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