Codex discissus an Alchemical Treatise of Emperor Frederick III
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made middle of 15th century
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 12,5 x 9,3 cm
Inventory numberNMB 1587
AcqusitionPurchase 1949 funded by Hjalmar and Anna Wicanders fund
Other titlesTitle (en): Codex discissus an Alchemical Treatise of Emperor Frederick III Inventory title (sv): Blad ur handskrift, allegori över "Styrkan" Original title: Alchemica
DescriptionDescription: NMB 1587 A cutting from the Codex discissus, an alchemical treatise of Emperor Frederick III. [Vienna, c.1460-1469] Catalogue raisonné: NMB 1587 A cutting from the Codex discissus, an alchemical treatise of Emperor Frederick III. [Vienna, c.1460-1469] Physical Description MATERIAL: Gouache and gold on parchment. DIMENSIONS: 125 × 93 mm. NUMBER OF LEAVES: 1. FOLIATION: Unknown. RULING: None visible. LANGUAGE: No language visible. SCRIPT: No script visible. RUBRICATION: No rubrics visible. Text No text visible. Sister leaves 1. London, Sotheby’s, sale 11.12.1979, lot 2. 2. Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Rawl. D. 893, fol. 103r. 3. Philadelphia, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Othmar MS 10b [698 B-C]. 4. Philadelphia, Free Library of Philadelphia, Rare Book Department, Lewis E M 028:26-28. Decoration The miniature is surrounded by a golden frame and has a peach-coloured background with flourishes. In the centre stands a hermaphroditic figure known as Mercurius noster. Mercury was a central figure in alchemy and was identified with Hermes Trismegistus. Identified with quicksilver, this androgenous figure could transform itself into any shape. Mercury was seen as the active agent in alchemical transformation on a philosophical and spiritual level. This mercurial figure wears a crown and has long golden hair, it wears a white tunic that goes down to the knees and is tightened by a gold belt. In the figure’s left hand is a small green wyvern with a long-curled leg and short wings. The dragon has two long golden tails, one of which is tucked into the hermaphrodite’s belt. In the figure’s right hand is the sun with an anthropomorphic visage. The figure is standing bare footed on two pink boxes that are joined together by a pole. Underneath the figure’s right foot, the box is filled with a yellow colour and behind a large yellow wing rises that reaches up to the top of the frame. Underneath the figure’s left foot is an identical scene in blue. Provenance Parent volume 1. Made for Emperor Frederick III in the 1460s and illuminated by the Lehrbüchermeister. 2. After Frederick III’s death in 1493 the manuscript passed into the imperial library. 3. In 1565 was in the possession of Emperor Maximilian II and was copied by Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. 4. In the possession of Emperor Rudolf II (1576-1612). 5. In 1648 the treasury of Rudolf II sacked by the Swedish army of Queen Christina and the manuscript taken back to Stockholm. 6. In 1654 Christina abdicated and took the manuscript with her in exile. 7. The manuscript was given to the librarian Isaac Vossius (1618-1689). 8. After the death of Vossius in 1689 the manuscript was sold to the University Library in Leiden. Present leaf 1. Purchased by the Nationalmuseum from an unnamed German owner in 1949. Exhibited 1. Stockholm, Nationalmuseum, Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter, December 1987-March 1988. Commentary The manuscript was illuminated by the Lehrbüchermeister (active c.1450-1469) who was one of the foremost illuminators in Vienna during the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III (r.1452-1493). The Lehrbüchermeister illuminated several codices for the imperial family. Cermann (2023) hypothesizes that NMB 1587 is one of several fragments that belonged to an alchemical book owned by Frederick III. The Holy Roman Emperor had a noted interest in alchemy and owned other alchemical texts. There are eight surviving fragments of the manuscript surviving that Cermann names Codex discissus: NMB 1587 and seven others that are found in Philadelphia, Oxford and in private hands. Codex discissus was written in Middle High German and contained one of the oldest German translations of the alchemical text Turba Philosophorum as well as being related to another treatise on alchemy, the Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (Book of the Holy Trinity). Richly illuminated by the Lehrbüchermeister, the manuscript seems to have been made specifically for Frederick III and that after his death it passed into the imperial library. During the reign of Emperor Maximilian II (r.1564-1576) the manuscript was in the library of Innsbruck or Vienna. In 1565 Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (1541–1587) came to Austria in the process of marrying Johanna of Austria (1547-1578). Francesco I was passionate about alchemy and while in Austria had Codex discissus copied. This copy then ended up in the possession of Giovan Battista Guidi da Cerreto (1524–1592) the court astrologer of Francesco I and is now in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence. The original Codex discissus manuscript passed into the hands of the passionate alchemist, Emperor Rudolf II (r.1576-1612) and into his notable collection of works of alchemy and magic. The treasury of Rudolf II was sacked by the Swedish army of Queen Christina (r.1632-1654) and his manuscripts, including Codex discissus taken back to Stockholm. When Christina abdicated, she took the alchemical manuscripts with her in exile. They then ended up in the hands of librarian Isaac Vossius (1618-1689) who left many of them into the collection of the University Library in Leiden. Bibliography Abel, Ulf, and Nils Göran Hökby (eds.), Gyllene böcker. Nyförvärv och nyupptäckter (Stockholm: Nationalmuseum, 1987), no. 53, p. 52. Arrighi Vanna, ‘Giovan Battista Guidi da Cerreto (1524–1592) guardaroba ed astrologo granducale’ in Miscellanea Storica della Valdelsa 105/3 (284), (1999), pp. 291–302. Aurnhammer, Achim, ‘Zum Hermaphroditen in der Sinnbildkunst der Alchemie’ in Die Alchemie in der europäischen Kultur- und Wissenschaftsgeschichte, ed. by. Christoph Merkel (Wolfenbüttler Forschungen, Bd. 32) (Wolfenbüttel: Herzog August Bibliothek, 1986), pp. 179–200. Battistini, Matilde, Astrology, Magic, and Alchemy in Art (A Guide to Imagery), (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty, 2007), pp. 278-283. Buntz, Herwig, Deutsche alchemistische Traktate des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts (Hannover: Verlag Uni-Druck, 1968), nos. 17, 19. Cermann, Regina, ‘Goldenes Wissen für Kaiser Friedrich III. Acht Miniaturen einer alchemischen Prunkhandschrift vom Lehrbüchermeister’ in Jahrbuch des Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien, Volume 22: Wiens erste Moderne Visuelle Konstruktion von Identitäten im 15. Jahrhundert, ed. by Gabriele Helke (Vienna/Cologne: Böhlau Verlag, 2023), pp. 131-164. Lacaze, Grégoire, Turba Philosophorum. Congrès pythagoricien sur l’art d’Hermès. Édition critique, traduction et presentation, Philosophia Antiqua. A series of studies on ancient philosophy, Bd. 150 (Leiden: Brill, 2018) Moser, Eva (ed.), Buchmalerei im Bodenseeraum 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert (Friedrichshafen, Gessler, 1997), p. 151. Nordenfalk, Carl, Bokmålningar från medeltid och renässans i Nationalmusei samlingar (Stockholm: Rabén & Sjögren, 1979), no. 32, pp. 116-117. Obrist, Barbara, Les débuts de l’imagerie alchimique (XIVe–XVe siècles) (Paris: Le Sycomore, 1982) Obrist, Barbara, ‘Visualization in Medieval Alchemy’ in HYLE – International Journal for Philosophy of Chemistry, Vol. 9, No.2 (2003), pp. 131-170. Priesner, Claus and Karin Figala (eds.), Alchemie. Lexikon einer hermetischen Wissenschaft (Munich: Verlag C. H. Beck, 1998,) p. 147. Richterová, Alena, ‘Alchemical Manuscripts in the Collections of Rudolf II’ in Alchemy and Rudolf II. Exploring the Secrets of Nature in Central Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, eds. Ivo Purš and Vladimír Karpenko (Prague: Artefactum, 2016), pp. 249-291. Sandgren, Eva Lindqvist, Illuminated Manuscripts in Swedish Collections, https://www.alvin-portal.org/alvin/resultList.jsf?dswid=7830&p=1&searchType=EXTENDED&sortString=creationYear_sort_asc&noOfRows=10&af=%5B%22ARCHIVE_ORG_ID_facet%3A67%22%5D&query=&aq=%5B%5B%7B%22HOST%22%3A%22alvin-record%3A471052%22%7D%5D%5D&aqe=%5B%5D Research project 2022-2023, Illuminated Manuscript, Christian Etheridge, Art Historian.
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