Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, circa 1500-1825
This is a hand-painted Italian alchemical manuscript from the Manly Palmer Hall collection, dating from roughly the 1500s to 1825, compiled for esoteric readers interested in alchemy, Hermeticism and Rosicrucian and Masonic occult traditions. Its pictures show a series of round-bodied glass flasks (alembics) with plants or flowers in their necks, each set between painted scroll banners and rococo cartouches bearing Italian inscriptions, with the liquid darkening from clear to black. A designer could draw on the flask forms, the hand-lettered ribbons and the pale, tinted watercolour palette.
