Symbolica
Orbita quadruplex hoc regit ignis opus

Orbita quadruplex hoc regit ignis opus

The Heavens as the central motif, with Fire in a secondary part. From Atalanta Fugiens.

Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. Engraving.

Public domain, 1618 printing · Web copy 1400 by 1314 px · Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 84

What is happening

Michael Maier, 1618 “Orbita quadruplex hoc regit ignis opus.” Atalanta Fugiens, Emblema XVII, page 77, the motto printed over the engraving.

Symbolica, 2026 Maier’s Latin, put into English here: A fourfold orbit governs this work of fire.

Key · 2 motifs

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

  1. 1The Heavenscentral motif as it reads here: Emblema XVII
  2. 2Firesecondary motif

The picture

Four spheres stacked in the sky over a river landscape. By eye

Not yet decoded: the motifs are tagged by eye and the readings above are quoted from their sources. The marks on the picture and the sourced notes come with the entry.

Also carrying the Heavens

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

Where the detail is the subject

Fire

This is in the picture without being what it is about. 10 works in the archive are about it; the 4 closest are below.

In the same series

Atalanta Fugiens, 1618

Record

Source
Internet Archive, Getty Research Institute copy, leaf 84
Rights
Public domain. The book was printed at Oppenheim in 1618 and its author, engraver, printer and publisher have been dead for more than three centuries; the Getty Research Institute's scan of it on the Internet Archive carries no further restriction.
Restoration
None. A 1400 by 1314 pixel web copy made from the source file; nothing retouched, nothing upscaled.
Series
Atalanta Fugiens, 1618
Artist
Matthaus Merian, engraver and publisher, 1593 to 1650, to whom the fifty plates of Atalanta Fugiens are attributed by tradition rather than by signature
Titled here
Orbita quadruplex hoc regit ignis opus. Internet Archive catalogues it as: Emblema XVII, from Atalanta Fugiens, page 77
Checked
the Science History Institute's catalogue of the same 1618 Oppenheim printing, 4 September 2026: Maier as author, de Bry as publisher, Galler as printer, Merian as engraver, and Public Domain Mark. The engraving is attributed to Merian by tradition and is not signed. The image here is from the Getty Research Institute's scan of the same edition on the Internet Archive; the leaf is named in the source line. Not seen in the hand.
By email · free

One symbol a week, decoded.

This picture is free at full size from its source, linked above. What an address gets is the Sunday letter: one picture, one symbol marked on it, what it meant and who said so, and the master files of the decoded plates as they are verified. Leave any time.

Cite
Symbolica, “Orbita quadruplex hoc regit ignis opus”, Matthaus Merian, attributed, for Michael Maier, 1618. thesymbolica.com/work/orbita-quadruplex-hoc-regit-ignis-opus/