16th c. spectacular fireworks machines
miniatures from a richly illustrated manuscript of friedrich meyer's büchsenmeister- und feuerwerksbuch, a book on gunsmithing and the pyrotechnical arts for entertainment as well as military purposes. produced in strasbourg (?), 1594
source: Munich, BSB, Cgm 8143, ff. 143r, 135v-136r, and 145r
on the culture of early modern fireworks spectacles see, among others, kevin salatino: incendiary art: the representation of fireworks in early modern europe (1997) [link to pdf]
