Exegesis THE EMPEROR (IIII) Sentences 10–12
10 The prototype will be enlarged into a polyptych of 36 panels
11 Each panel will be independent, but once assembled, it will form the whole
12 The panels will remain movable so that they can be disassembled for the journey
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10. “The prototype will be enlarged into a polyptych of 36 panels”
The polyptych rises from the prototype through the ancient technique of “mise au carreau“, where the original image is measured, traced, and expanded across a grid. Each panel becomes a cell of the system, a fragment of a larger cosmic order, a seed unfolding into space.
The number 36 (6 × 6) resonates with terrestrial creation. Its sum, 1 + 2 + … + 36 = 666, marks the intensity of multiplicity — the point at which the fragments of the world shimmer with their own energy. The polyptych is a cosmos in miniature, a sacred expansion of a single vision.
11. “Each panel will be independent, but once assembled, it will form the whole”
Each panel (16 × 26 cm) holds its own life. Alone, it is a complete watercolor, a self-contained fragment. Yet its full meaning emerges only in relation to the others.
Together, the 36 panels recompose the enlarged image of the prototype (96 × 156 cm). The fragments do not simply join — they become the image itself, revealing the unity that each part alone could never bear.
12. “The panels will remain movable so that they can be disassembled for the journey”
Though capable of forming a whole, the panels remain movable, adaptable, ready for the journey. They can be disassembled, carried, and reassembled without losing their order.
This is the wisdom of the Emperor: a system that is rigid in vision but flexible in practice, enduring across space and time, a testament to balance between permanence and motion.
