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The Layer Quaternity are four marble sculpture figurines approximately 25 centimetres in height located on the two columns of the Layer Monument, an early 17th century polychrome mural monument (320 X 350 cm) installed in the Church of Saint John the Baptist, Maddermarket, Norwich to the memory of Christopher Layer (merchant) (1531-1600). ==Style== The quartet of figurines sculptured in marble, ''Pax, Gloria, Vanity, Labor'' exhibit primary thematic concerns and stylistic attributes of Northern Mannerist art, namely, portraiture of animated human movement, variety and multiplicity, often set in the Classical or mythological world, and inclined towards esoteric concepts. 〔 John Shearman Mannerism Pelican 1967 ISBN 0-14-020808-9 〕 ==Sources of symbolism== The Layer Quaternity (''circa'' 1598-1604) share a number of iconographical details to a complex illustration found in ''Alchemia'' (1606) by the German academic Andreas Libavius in a chapter entitled ''De Lapide Philosophorum'' (The Philosopher's Stone) in which two giants support four figures, the lower pair of which are mortal, the upper pair immortal, they form the apex to - "Libavius' monument of the opus.......The completion of the Little Work by ''Labor and Industry'' and ''the grace of God'' (Latin lower captions translated) is followed by ''Sol'' and ''Luna'' ascending on swan's wings.....the thanksgiving by the Arab king and his white wife reading as - ''Glory to God on High'' and ''I will exalt thee my God'' ". 〔 Alchemy - Johannes Fabricius pub. Rosenkilde and Bagger, Copenhagen, 1976 〕 (Latin upper captions translated) Libavius' illustration and the marble sculpture of the Layer Quaternity share an identical pairing including a naked figure (lower pair), a bare-legged royal male and a regal draped female (upper pair) as well as the titled captions ''Gloria'' and ''Labor'', along with the symbols of palm branch, ''rotundum'', and moon. The similarities between the captioned phrases of Libavius' illustration to those of the single-word titles of the Layer Quaternity suggest that in time sequence, the Layer monument was based upon and installed before 1606, the publication date of Libavius' illustration. Biblical verse which parallels the symbolism of each captioned entity includes for the lower and mortal pair - ''Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the Labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was Vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun''. Ecclesiastes 2.v.11 With an antithetical response from the upper, immortal, ''Heavenly'' pair - Glory ''to God in the highest, and on earth Peace, goodwill to all men.'' Luke 2 v.14 The Layer Quaternity also corresponds to the alchemical 'deities' Apollo, Luna, Mercurius and Vulcan as named in emblem XVII of Atalanta Fugiens (1617) by the German alchemist-physician Michael Maier. 〔 J.B. Craven Count Michael Maier Life and Writings 1910 reprint 2003 Ibis Press〕 ==Interpretation== The four figurines housed in the monument's pilasters, ''Pax'' and ''Gloria'', ''Vanitas'' and ''Labor'', (Peace, Glory, Vanity, Labor) are relatively rare examples of Northern Mannerist sculpture extant in Britain. Collectively they exemplify how Christian iconography during the era of Elizabeth I, in tandem with Renaissance Europe, integrated symbolism from the western esoteric traditions of alchemy and astrology into works of art, including the funerary monument. The Layer Quaternity in their totality are a unique alchemical mandala. 〔Adam McLean The Alchemical Mandala pub. Phanes 1989〕 Through polarized symbolism they delineate essential coordinates associated with mandala art, namely Space (Heaven and Earth) and Time (Young and Old). They also represent fundamental aspects of the human condition, namely, gender, youth and age, as well as pleasure and suffering. In essence, the Layer Quaternity, not unlike the ''Scaiolae'' 〔 'Spiritual powers of the mind comparable to psychic powers such as thought, love, hate, imagination, hope, fear'. C.G.Jung CW 13:206 citing Martin Ruland,'They emanate from the soul in man. Fancy, imagination, speculative faculty, etc. are included under the term.' - from ''Lexicon Alchemiae'' (1612) 〕 of Paracelsus (which are discussed by Libavius in ''Alchemia'') are a quaternity of differentiated virtues or psychic entities which represent a complete wholeness or totality in sum. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Layer Quaternity」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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