Oratory ceiling, Hotel Lallemant, Bourges, France

A hand surrounded by flames emerging from a rock wall, holding a branch from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden, or possibly feathers representing dry work, and with a scroll wrapped around, thought to represent the culmination of an alchemist's work, from the coffered ceiling of the Oratory, carved in stone with 30 sections, each relating to a process in alchemy, in the Hotel Lallemant, a mansion built 1495-1518 in French Renaissance style by the Lallemant merchant family, in Bourges, Centre Val de Loire, France. The sculptural decoration on the building, made by both French and Italian sculptors, has been interpreted by Fulcanelli and others as having an alchemical symbolism. Since 1951 the building has housed the Musee des Arts Decoratifs and it was listed as a historic monument in 1840. Picture by Manuel Cohen

Restrictions Only for Ireland and United Kingdom and United States Of America

1495-1518 Alchemical Alchemist Alchemy Alchimie Bourges Centre-val Cher Coffered Decoratifs Fulcanelli Interpretation Knowledge Lallemand Lallemant Oratory Phylactery Scroll Symbolism

Features In These Collections

> Contributors > COH