Mondo simbolico, o sia, Vniuersita' d'imprese scelte, spiegate, ed' illustrate con sentenze ed eruditioni sacre e profane
Filippo Picinelli's Mondo simbolico, printed in Milan in 1653 by the archiepiscopal press, is an encyclopedia of emblematic devices with mottoes explained through sacred and secular quotations, compiled for preachers, writers and designers of imprese and engraved by Giacomo Cotta, Giorgio Tasnière and Andrea Bianchi. Copperplate cartouches enclose single symbols — a phoenix on its pyre, hands holding a pen, rayed skies — ringed by strapwork, grotesque masks and banderoles carrying Latin mottoes, alongside coarse woodcut initials with lions; useful for frame stock, motto ribbons and compact symbol motifs.
