Alchemical Hands in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili

Marginalia, Scholarship & Reception

← All Folios

Signature k7v

Folio 79v, Quire k

Folio k7v
British Library, London — C.60.o.12

Vision Reading (Phase 3 deep analysis)

Primary hand: Multiple · Hands: 2 · Type: woodcut_page · Sig: k8v

Woodcut: TABELLA DEXTRA and SECVNDA SINISTRA panels

Two stacked woodcut panels. Top: TABELLA DEXTRA showing figures in a doorway scene. Bottom: SECVNDA SINISTRA showing figures in an outdoor/garden scene with Cupid. Part of the triumphal procession sequence.

Condition: Good

Transcription Attempts

left_margin · Latin · LOW
Clypeus [...] Contra [...] R [...] grotto [...] mortuorum [...] aliquo [...]
'Clypeus' (shield), 'mortuorum' (of the dead). Reader noting funerary/martial elements in the procession
left_margin_lower · Latin · LOW
gr[...] Saturni [...] et [...] Atago [...]
'Saturni' (of Saturn). Planetary reference in the procession — Saturn = lead in alchemical tradition
bottom · Latin/Italian · LOW
[...] dei [...] est [...] V [...] volonte [...] Alio [...] [...] & noleualo [...]
Bottom annotations partially illegible

Scholarly Significance

Page 158 — deep in the triumphal procession. The 'Saturni' annotation is notable: Saturn is the planet of lead, melancholy, and time in both astrological and alchemical tradition. Finding a Saturn reference in the procession annotations connects the triumphal imagery to the same planetary/alchemical framework seen on p.88 (planetary palace) and p.17 ('planete'). The word 'mortuorum' (of the dead) reinforces the funerary dimension of triumph.

Cross-references: Photo 101 (p.88, planetary palace), Photo 30 (p.17, 'planete')
Vision reading (Claude Code, Phase 3)