The Setting Maul, the Spade, the Coffin and the Sprig of Acacia
Death and the Skull as the central motif, with the Tree and the Pentagram in a secondary part. From Masonic Chart.
What is happening
Symbolica, 2026 The sprig on the coffin is the one the lecture means. The maul, the spade and the coffin themselves are not explained in the printed monitor; that part of the lecture was not published.
Key · 3 motifs
Tap a motif on the picture, or a line below. Its note opens under the line, with the reading its author gave it.
- Primary motif
- Secondary motifs · 2
The picture
A setting maul and a spade crossed above, a coffin below with a five-pointed star cut into its lid, and a sprig of acacia growing at its head. By eye
The reading
The picture read whole, in the archive's words, from the sources quoted on the marks. Read on, and the picture follows: the motif under discussion keeps its colour.
The last plate of the Master Mason's emblems is the one the lecture closes on. A setting maul and a spade are crossed above; below them a coffin lies on the ground with a five-pointed star cut into its lid, and a sprig of acacia grows at its head.
The monitor prints nothing on the maul, the spade or the coffin: that part of the lecture belonged to the unwritten work. It prints only the sentence that ends the section, and the sentence names the thought the coffin stands for: ‘Thus we close the explanation of the emblems upon the solemn thought of death, which, without revelation, is dark and gloomy’.
The same sentence turns on the sprig: ‘but the Christian is suddenly revived by the ever green and ever living sprig of Faith in the merits of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.’ The acacia is the one green thing on the plate, and it is drawn growing out of the ground the coffin lies on.
The star on the lid is five-pointed. The lecture does not name it, and the archive records it as seen.
Death, and a plant that does not die. The plate is the sentence, and the tools above it are the part of the sentence that was never written down.
Decoded: every motif is marked, and each mark carries the reading its author gave it, quoted from the text, or says that it is observed on the picture and not read. The reading above is the archive's own, made from those sources and no others.
An office, not an ending. Note what Death is holding and who is being made to look at it.
In plain words A plain coffin on the ground. The monitor prints nothing about it, the maul or the spade; that part of the lecture was spoken and never printed. What it prints is the sentence that closes the whole explanation of the emblems, and that sentence says the coffin's word: death, which without revelation is dark and gloomy.
Jeremy L. Cross, 1826 “Thus we close the explanation of the emblems upon the solemn thought of death, which, without revelation, is dark and gloomy; but the Christian is suddenly revived by the ever green and ever living sprig of Faith in the merits of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
A body drawn as growth. Note which way it grows and what is at the root rather than at the top.
In plain words A small green plant grows out of the ground beside the coffin. The closing sentence turns on it: the Christian is revived by the evergreen sprig of faith in the Lion of the tribe of Judah. It is the one living thing on the plate.
Jeremy L. Cross, 1826 “Thus we close the explanation of the emblems upon the solemn thought of death, which, without revelation, is dark and gloomy; but the Christian is suddenly revived by the ever green and ever living sprig of Faith in the merits of the Lion of the tribe of Judah.”
A five-pointed star drawn in one line. Count which way it points before reading it: one point up and two down is one sign, two up and one down is another.
In plain words A five-pointed star is cut into the coffin lid. The lecture that closes on the coffin does not mention it. Observed on the plate, and left unread rather than guessed.
Symbolica The star on the lid is on the plate and not in the monitor, which prints nothing on the coffin itself. Observed on the plate, and left unread rather than guessed.
Also carrying Death and the Skull
13 works carry it. The 6 where it is the central motif are here. The symbol.
The Buried Stone, the Castle and the Beasts
Death (XIII)
Knight, Death, and the Devil
Si de quattuor unum Occidas, subitò mortuus omnis erit
Adonis ab apro occiditur, cui Venus accurrens tinxit Rosas sanguine
Dolo Typhon Osyridem trucidat, artúsque illius Hinc inde dissipat, sed hos collegit Isis inclyta
Where the detail is the subject
Each of these is in the picture without being what it is about. Below, one work that is about each.
In the same series
Record
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