Symbolica
A Crowned Woman with a Rose-Topped Caduceus, in a Circle of Water

A Crowned Woman with a Rose-Topped Caduceus, in a Circle of Water

The caduceus as the central motif, filed under the Serpent and the Dragon, with the Water and the Crown in a secondary part. From The Flamel figures.

Maker not recorded; catalogued with the Flamel prints, date not recorded.

Coloured etching from the Hieroglyphic Figures attributed to Nicolas Flamel.

Public Domain Mark · Web copy 1005 by 1400 px · Wellcome Collection

Key · 3 motifs

The motifs the picture carries, filed by role. The marks on the picture itself come with the entry.

  1. 1The Serpent and the Dragoncentral motif as it reads here: The Caduceus
  2. 2The Watersecondary motif
  3. 3The Crownsecondary motif

The picture

A crowned woman in red holds a caduceus topped with a rose, standing on a flower within a ring of water, a winged head in a cloud above her breathing down on her; the caduceus is two serpents on a staff, and the archive files it under the Serpent; the crown she wears is an attribute, not the subject. By eye

Not yet decoded: the key and the sourced notes come with the entry. Until then the motifs above are tagged by eye and said so.

Also carrying the Serpent and the Dragon

30 works carry it. The 6 where it is the central motif are here. The symbol.

Where the detail is the subject

the Water · the Crown

Each of these is in the picture without being what it is about. Below, one work that is about each.

In the same series

The Hieroglyphic Figures attributed to Nicolas Flamel

Record

Source
Wellcome Collection
Rights
Public Domain Mark. Wellcome Collection marks the work as free of known copyright restrictions.
Restoration
None. A 1005 by 1400 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing painted, nothing upscaled.
Series
The Hieroglyphic Figures attributed to Nicolas Flamel
Titled here
A Crowned Woman with a Rose-Topped Caduceus, in a Circle of Water. Wellcome Collection catalogues it as: A crowned woman in red holding a rose-topped caduceus; she is suspended in a circle of water; a cherub blows wind from above; representing a stage in the process of alchemy. Coloured etching, ca. 18th century.
Checked
Wellcome Collection's own catalogue record, 4 September 2026: the rights, the maker, the date, accession ckz6rqdz. The title on this page is ours, as the line above says. Not seen in the gallery. Corrected 10 September 2026. This sheet was filed as "After Nicolas Flamel, attributed"; the Wellcome does not make that attribution. Its note on the group says: "From a collection of five prints (Wellcome Library nos. 38626i, 38627i, 38628i, 38629i, 38630i) stored in the Wellcome Library with a set of prints relating to the writings of Nicolas Flamel. The collection seems to comprise two disparate series (the number 6 appears twice) Although similar in style to the Flamel-related series ... they do not seem to be directly related, because 1) the numbering in the latter series includes some of the numbers of this collection and 2) thematic differences: the Flamel-related series comprise subjects either related to Flamel's writings or the Book of Revelation. Here the imagery seems to be more arcanely alchemical". The three sheets filed here on the same day that do carry Flamel's described figures are V0025615, V0025616 and V0025617.
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Cite
Symbolica, “A Crowned Woman with a Rose-Topped Caduceus, in a Circle of Water”, Maker not recorded; catalogued with the Flamel prints, date not recorded. thesymbolica.com/work/a-crowned-woman-with-a-rose-topped-caduceus-in-a-circle-of-water/