The Chemical Wedding of Hermes and Aphrodite
The Chemical Wedding of Hermes and Aphrodite (detail), Matthäus Merian the Elder, 1687 The Chemical Wedding of Hermes and Aphrodite, Matthäus Merian the Elder, 1687 The Chemical Wedding of Hermes and Aphrodite (detail), Matthäus Merian the Elder, 1687 The Chemical Wedding of Hermes and Aphrodite
Matthäus Merian the Elder (Swiss, 1593–1650)
Engraving in Michael Maier, Scrutinium chymicum (Frankfurt, 1687), pp. 96–97
1380-908

The alchemical hermaphrodite symbolizes chemical bonding in the laboratory as an "unnatural creation." It can represent the union of any two opposing substances—mercury and copper, mercury and sulfur, silver and gold, or body and spirit—transformed into a new material.

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The Art of Alchemy