Label
Alchemical apparatus in a kitchen
Description
The coloured drawing shows a full kitchen with three people working on the 'preparatio animalium', food to be served at the table. Also in this scene, on the floor there is an alchemical equipment for distillation: the alembic, which heats a substance until it boils and condenses the rising vapours, directing the purified liquid via a funnel or tube to a receiving vessel. Distillation increases substance purity and is a major operation in the alchemy of transformation.
Manuscript number
GB 247 MS Ferguson 67, f. 10r
Title
Libro intitulato Il tesoro del mondo di Pietre Antonio Neri
Library/Collection
Glasgow University Library
Bibliography
Paul Engle, 'Depicting Alchemy: Illustrations from Antonio Neri's 1599 Manuscript' in Glass of the Alchemists (Corning Museum of Glass, New York: 2008), pp48-61
