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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileŒdipus Ægyptiacus, 1652-1654, 4 v. 1057 (25886621711)
This is a monochrome printed initial letter 'T' set within a decorative square frame. The letter itself serves as a structure for flowing, leafy scrollwork that fills the negative space. On the left side of the vertical stem, a stylized turtle is depicted in profile, integrated into the foliage. The print exhibits the characteristic texture of letterpress ink on aged, cream-colored paper, positioned next to partially visible Latin text.
This decorative initial appears in Athanasius Kircher's 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus', a seminal 17th-century work attempting to synthesize Hermeticism, Egyptology, and universal theology through the interpretation of hieroglyphs.
T E A Et ter T uis Act O Im In eorum quoque
Translation
The Latin fragments appear to be part of the surrounding prose text of the volume and do not form a complete sentence.
Athanasius Kircher
This is a decorative element from Kircher's four-volume encyclopedia 'Oedipus Aegyptiacus'.
Object
woodcut
laid paper
Baroque
Italian
decorative
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
805 × 670 px
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3.1-flash-lite-preview on April 20, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.