#emblemes

[portalibis]

Non habet fundum, Gloria Crocodilus

Jacob Hoefnagel, 

c. 1634

[magictransistor]

Basilius Valentinus. Chymische Schriften alle so Viel Derer Verhanden, Alchemical Emblems. 1700.

[portalibis]

Minerua Britanna, or, A garden of heroical deuises, furnished, and adorned with emblemes and impresa's of sundry natures : newly devised, moralized, and published

by Peacham, Henry, 1576?-1643?

c. 1612

[portalibis]

Iani Iacobi Boissardi Vesvntini emblematum liber. Ipsa emblemata ab auctore delineata: a Theodoro de Bry sculpta & nunc recens in lucem edita by Boissard, Jean Jacques, 1528-1602 Publication date 1593

[portalibis]

Devises et emblemes anciennes et modernes, 

by La Feuille, Daniel de; Cats, Jacob, 1577-1660; Saavedra Fajardo, Diego de, 1584-1648

Publication date 1712

[negreabsolut]

[books0977]

Still Life with a Volume of Wither’s ‘Emblemes’ (1696). Edward Collier (Dutch, 1640-1708). Oil paint on canvas. Tate.

The skull and hour-glass symbolise the inevitability of death, while the musical instruments, wine and jewels represent the fleeting pleasures of life. The open book shows a brief poem emphasising the theme of mortality. The Latin inscription in the top left corner comes from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes: 'Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.'