Johann Theodor de Bry. Engravings for Atalanta Fugiens, hoc est, Emblemata Nova de Secretis Naturae Chymica, by Michael Maier. 1618.
J.D. Mylius. Macrocosm and Microcosm, Basilicæ Philosophica from Opus Medico-Chymicum. 1618.
Giovanni Botero. Woodcuts from Aggiunta alla Quarta Parte dell'Indie of La Relationi Universali. 1618.
Jacob Cats, Emblemata; Minnebeelden with Maegdenplicht & Sinne en Minnebeelden, ca. 1618.
Nicolaes de Bruyn, Knight on horseback with Time and the Devil, 1618.
Adriaen van der Venne & Jan Gerrits Swelinck, Proteus (Jacob Cats), 1659.
Carlo Ruini, Horse Muscle Figure (Woodblock print), Venice, 1618.
Matthieu Merian. Tabula Smaragdina (Emerald Tablet). Opus Medico-Chymicum. 1618.
Matthieu Merian. Engraving for JD Mylius, Opus Medico Chymicum. 1618.
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Johann Daniel Mylius. Basilica Philosophica. 1618.
J. D. Mylius, Opus Medico-Chymicum: Basilica Philosophicae, ca. 1618.
Jan Brueghel the Elder and Peter Paul Rubens. Allegory of Sight (double inverted). 1618.
Theophilus Schweighardt. Speculum Sophicum Rhodostauroticum. 1618.
Abu’l Hasan. Jahangir Embracing Shah Abbas. Mughal Dynasty, India. 1618.
During a period of uneasy détente with Shah Abbas, the Safavid king of Iran, Jahangir dreamed the two rulers embraced—but in reality they never met. To proclaim the Mughal emperor’s superiority, the artist Abu’l Hasan cleverly manipulated symbols of sovereignty. The globe, which represents earthly rule and alludes to Jahangir’s name (World Seizer), becomes the stage for his disingenuous bear hug of the smaller, less opulently dressed shah. His lion mount even nudges the shah’s lamb back towards Iran.
Robert Fludd. The Invisible College. Speculum Sophicum Rhodo-Stauroticum. 1618.
Bichitr. Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Sheikh to Kings. 1618.
In the painting, we see Jahangir sited on a hourglass throne. Cupids write in it the wish of the king of living for 1000 years. The halo that covers Jahangir is a mix between the sun and the moon, indicating that he is the centre of the universe and that he is the source of all light. Just with these two symbols we can see the fusion that Bichitr makes between the east and the west: the cupids are purely western while the halo is a symbol purely eastern.
There are 4 individuals at the left. Below we find Bichitr himself, our own artist, and this was the first time that a painter from the east included himself in his painting. This was very bold, considering that he is in front of the emperor. Here Bichitr holds a miniature and, inside it, we can see him again, deeply vowing the emperor. Above Bichitr is the king James I of England, who was copied by the artist from a painting that was given to Jahangir. Over James I, there is a Turkish sultan and, above him, we find an old Sufi sheikh, a mystical saint that gives Jahangir a book with an inscription that says “although to all appearances kings stand before him, Jahangir looks inwardly toward the dervishes (holy men)”. Bichitr signs the work in the step the emperor uses to climb to the throne, which means that Jahangir walks over Bichitr’s name, indicating the awareness the artist has on his own lower status.