"The Magic Flute" - Bro. Alberti and the Frontispiece of the Libretto on the Occasion of the First Performance in the Year 1791 (Page 22).



Jug, hour-glass, angle, spade


At the right side of the twilight foreground, next to the architectural ruins, we see a jug and an hour-glass with a spade before it and a nearly right-angled instrument, which often was explained as scythe. The hour-glass is a symbol of death. The signification of the jug depends on its contents. It could contain water as a vital elixir.



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