Sebastian Münster (1489–1552) - Cosmographia Universalis - Gorgonia e Balsamo - 1550

This original sheet is a precious Renaissance page drawn from the 1550 Latin edition of Sebastian Münster's Cosmographia universalis, printed in Basel by the publisher Heinrich Petri, focusing on the archaeological and natural wonders of the land of Egypt. The recto of the page, marked with the number 1303, opens with the wide treatise titled Labyrinthus Aegypti (Cap. XXV), which describes the monumental and legendary manufacture of the Labyrinth of Egypt erected near the tomb of the king, an enterprise so complex that it inspired Daedalus for the construction of his famous labyrinth in Crete. The text describes its underground passages, the porphyry columns, the monumental courtyards, and the branches divided into sixteen prefectures (Labyrinthus in praefecturas divisus). The lower part of the page hosts the chapter De odorifera balsami herba (Cap. XXVI), which describes the precious cultivations and the gathering of balsam in the historic gardens near Cairo, enriched by a splendid woodcut showing a balsam tree (Opobalsamum) with its roots and trunk incised for the emission of the precious aromatic resin. Turning the page, the back, numbered 1304 (under the heading De Africae Regionibus), opens with the important natural history treatise Corallium crescit in mari rubro (Cap. XXVII). The Latin text, citing the authorities Theophrastus, Pliny, and Ovid, describes the scientific and mythical nature of coral, described as a marine shrub that grows tender and green beneath the water’s surface and then hardens instantly on contact with air, becoming stone (Gorgonia). The visual composition of the back is marvelously illustrated by a large woodcut that depicts a branch of branching coral. The narrative continues by detailing the different colors of coral (red, white, black) and its applications in ancient medicine. The lower section of the page closes with the geographical chapters dedicated to the historic Egyptian cities positioned at the Nile’s mouths, describing the area of Pelusium and Damietta (Pelusium, quae et Damiata, Cap. XXVIII) with the tragic sieges that occurred during the Crusades in 1219, and finally introducing the city of Arsinoe, formerly known as the city of crocodiles (Arsinoe et crocodili civitas, Cap. XXIX), where the ancient Egyptians used to feed and venerate these reptiles within sacred lakes.

Dimensions: 30 x 20 cm
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