Catalog Archive
Auction 139, Lot 61

"[Lot of 2 - Celestial Charts]",

Subject: Celestial, Religion

Period: 1795 (circa)

Publication:

Color: Hand Color

Size:
8 x 8 inches
20.3 x 20.3 cm
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This pair of French zodiac charts is from Charles-Francois Dupuis' L'Origine de tous les Cultes, depicting religious beliefs of various cultures.

Plate 19 depicts the position of the sky at the moment that Jesus Christ was born on December 25 at midnight. To the east (Orient) is Virgo, the virgin, with Aries opposite her. Capricorn is at bottom and at top is Cancer, called the "creche" (manger) of Cancer. In his writings, Dupuis notes that it is quite fitting that on the night that Christ was born, the sky was filled with the virgin, a manger, and animals.

Plate 16 depicts the beliefs of the disciples of Zoroaster, a prophet believed to have been born in Iran sometime between 6000 BC to 100 BC. According to the disciples, time is divided in 12 thousand years: 6 thousand years in which man lives happily in the garden of Ormusd, and six thousand years in which man lives unhappily under the Empire of Ahriman. Man re-enters the garden of Ormusd through the door of Aries; from whose throne runs the river of Orion, or the Cyon, one of the rivers of earthly Paradise.

References:

Condition: A

Watermarked paper with a few faint spots in blank margins. There is a minor unobtrusive paper flaw on sheet No. 19.

Estimate: $140 - $180

Sold for: $100

Closed on 2/15/2012

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