Information
Specialist Notes
The codex opens with a centered "Warning to the Reader" on Kabbalistic terminology: "In the invocations that are made to God described in this Gem of precious secrets, we find names that to someone might seem fabulous, instead of Holy Names...". The treatise follows, Giemma Secretorum aut vera et Realis Salomonis Clavicola. From the Chaldean Translated into the Hebrew language of Lattino voscia from what was translated into our Italian in the year 1515. At the bottom, “23 chapters. 17 of the first book, and sixteen of the second with 28 pentagons [pentacles].” 28 annotated pentacles follow. The other sections in succession are: "invention of the Numerical Cabala", with various illustrative tables; the "Magic Wheel", with the relative Declaration and two other magic wheels; "Some magical superstitions" all very interesting because they are aimed at keeping lovers, driving out devils while one sleeps, etc.; an "Oration" aimed at driving away fever and other ailments; the “Magic Cross” (= Monas Hieroglyphica); a chapter entitled "Astrology"; the “Pentagonal Figure”.
In the 16th-18th century several texts circulated under the name of Key of Solomon, or Clavicula Salomonis, based on the medieval tradition that King Solomon knew how to control demons and get them to do his bidding, and he recorded this secret knowledge for his son Rehoboam. Solomon's mastery of demons is a common element in later Jewish and Arab legends and is often attributed to his possession of a magical ring called the Seal of Solomon. The Clavicle Salomonis, the original of which according to tradition was in Hebrew, is today attested in the world by about 35 copies in various languages including Latin, Italian, French, English, Czech and German. There are very few known copies in Italian, all dating back to the end of the 17th century and mostly to the 18th-19th century.The copies that appeared at auction were very rare, the last - less illustrated than the present - at Christie's London, 15 December 2021, lot 79, sold for £ 8750.< /div>