Discover beautiful vintage mineralogy charts from Illustrierte Mineralogie by Adolf Kenngott and Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert. Elegant crystal diagrams and classic science illustrations. Free to download for wall art, classrooms, and creative projects.
If you enjoy vintage science illustrations that sit somewhere between educational and quietly beautiful, you’re going to love these mineralogy charts.
This collection comes from Illustrierte Mineralogie, a 19th-century German work by Adolf Kenngott and Gotthilf Heinrich von Schubert. It’s packed with carefully drawn plates showing crystal forms, mineral groups, and physical structures. The sort of diagrams that were once essential teaching tools, long before photographs or digital models existed.
Mineralogy itself is all about understanding what minerals are made of, how they form, and how they’re classified. These charts show classic crystal shapes, grouped specimens, and labelled examples that help explain everything from symmetry to structure. Even if you’re not a geology expert, they’re fascinating to look at.
They also work brilliantly as wall art. Think study corners, craft rooms, classrooms, or anywhere that could use a little vintage earth-science charm.
How to Download the Prints
I’ve made high-resolution versions of these mineralogy plates available for you to download.
Here’s how it works:
- Find the chart you like below.
- Click the title above the picture to open the full-size image.
- Save it to your device or print straight from your browser.
All of the images are public domain, so you’re free to use them as you wish. For best results, try printing on heavier paper or matte cardstock.
Mineralogy Prints 1-11
Each plate you’ll see below represents a carefully categorised set of minerals, often grouped by chemical or structural similarities. Some common features you’ll notice in these plates:
- Crystal forms and symmetry: how atoms arrange and grow into geometric shapes.
- Mineral groupings: such as silicates, carbonates, oxides, sulfides, and others.
1: Diamonds and Other Precious Stones
German mineralogy plate showing diamond, corundum (ruby and sapphire), alexandrite, spinel, zircon, beryl, and emerald crystal forms.
Vintage lithograph plate showing topaz, garnet, olivine, epidote, turquoise, and lapis lazuli crystals.
Mineralogy plate showing quartz varieties, jasper, chalcedony, amethyst, and heliotrope
Agates, opals, chalcedony, onyx, and chrysoprase specimens with detailed banding patterns.
Vintage lithograph showing various mineral specimens and crystal forms, including tourmaline, serpentine, and jasper.
Crystal geometry diagrams, porphyry rock samples, feldspar, and granite.
Analcime, natrolite, stilbite, apophyllite, calcite crystals, and geological specimens in a detailed chromolithograph style.
Nine marble varieties, including Florentine, shell, ruin, and coral marble, with detailed colour patterns.
9. Marble and Limestone Specimens
Eight marble and limestone specimens with banded, mottled, and breccia patterns in earth tones.
Vintage Mineralogy plate showing aragonite, dolomite, gypsum, anhydrite, apatite, and fluorite specimens.
Fluorite, baryte, celestine, and salt crystals in a detailed lithograph style with geometric diagrams.
Vintage Mineralogy Art 12-22
12. Amber with Insects and More
Sulfur crystals, amber with insects, graphite, anthracite coal, and lignite specimens.
Gold specimens, crystals, nuggets, and platinum samples.
Silver specimens, pyrargyrite, and stephanite crystals
Mineralogy plate showing cinnabar, native copper, chalcopyrite, and tetrahedrite specimens.
Cuprite, azurite, malachite, and dioptase specimens
Cobalt minerals, erythrite, smaltite crystals, and meteorites with geometric crystal diagrams.
Vintage mineralogy plate showing pyrite, marcasite, magnetite, and hematite crystals.
Iron ores, limonite, siderite, vivianite, and pyrolusite with crystal diagrams.
Galena, cerussite, wulfenite, crocoite, and tin ore crystals.
Bismuth, uranin, chalcolith, anatase, rutile, and scheelite crystals.
Molybdenite, antimonite, chromite, auripigment, realgar, and other minerals with crystal diagrams.
Other Beautiful Prints from the Natural World
I hope these mineralogy prints spark a bit of curiosity and inspiration. They’re lovely if you enjoy vintage science illustrations, natural history, or simply decorating with something a little different. Whether you frame them, craft with them, or browse through the details, they offer a gentle reminder of how beautifully complex the natural world really is.
If you enjoyed this collection, you might also like my Mountain Sketches & Mountain Diagrams, the Educational Geography Posters, and the fascinating Mississippi River maps by Harold Fisk, which visually trace how the river has changed over time.
The lichen drawings on rocks are another of my favourites, showing tiny natural details captured with the same care and attention as these mineral charts.
Taken together, all of these prints celebrate the Earth from different angles, from crystals and stone to mountains, rivers, and living surfaces, and I hope they give you plenty of ideas for decorating, learning, or creative projects.
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