Plate 1: The Vision of Jacob's Ladder (Mutus Liber)

This engraving depicts a scene framed by an oval wreath of laurel leaves. At the center, a man in simple tunic and leggings lies asleep on the ground, leaning against a rocky formation. Above him stands a ladder reaching toward the sky; on the ladder, a winged angel reaches upward, blowing a trumpet toward the heavens. At the top of the ladder sits a second angel, also blowing a trumpet. The background shows a sparse landscape under a night sky containing stars and a crescent moon. The foreground and center contain lines of printed Latin text overlaid on the imagery.

This image is the frontispiece to the 'Mutus Liber' (The Silent Book), a landmark 17th-century alchemical work that eschews text in favor of a series of 15 emblematic plates illustrating the stages of the Great Work. It reinterprets the biblical story of Jacob's Ladder as an allegory for the alchemical process of spiritual and material transmutation.