I also agree that it is both towers and vessels. The two of them together indicate wealth and culture.
I think it is also similar to the barrels or pithoi in the zodiac section, which i believe to represent the ages of humanity, wherein it has only been in the recent ages that towers and vessels have existed.
The fact that there are six towers, and that they are different but similar, could jive with the idea of combining various cultures into vessels of human history.
This central rosette seems analogous with maps that have Jerusalem at their center, but it is not just Jerusalem, it is also Cairo, Baghdad, etc., various centers of religion and or culture. There are links to all quadrants of the world, mixing past present and future, showing that many traditions are shared or expressed in similar ways in various cultures. Roman gods are Greek gods are Egyptian gods... The wavy lines show it to be ethereal, an ideal, a heaven, an idea. A compendium of all knowledge of all the world, through all time.
Towers may fall and vessels may empty but the knowledge of their existence must be preserved, for then they can be again as they were, or at least known to have been, and can then be built upon.
I wasn't looking for this, but came across it by coincidence while looking through apocalypse illustrations. From BL Royal 15 D II, f. 202v. "Detail of a miniature of John witnessing an angel standing with a vial, with six vials on the hillside before him. Image taken from f. 202v of La lumiere as lais; Apocalypse (the 'Welles Apocalypse'). Written in French." You are not allowed to view links.
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I was surprised to find in one image six containers standing on hills, with heavenly clouds overhead.
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When I blogged about the rosettes folio MAYBE representing two different planes, the corporeal plane (the corners) and the spiritual plane (the others), I was extremely ambivalent about how to classify the center rosette because I wondered whether it might be the "meeting ground" between the two planes.
In other words, was it a sacred place, like a temple (it looks like a dome with stars painted in the ceiling), which might be the "connection" where heaven and earth can somewhat communicate with one another, where people go to commune with their God (or gods). Herbs (containers) were often used for sacrificial purposes, for ritual purposes (incense), for embalming purposes (funeral), for Biblical references (Mary Magdalene wiping balm on Jesus's feet). There are so many connections between churches/temples and herbs, it would be difficult to list them all.
I like the pic. I've been scouring apocalypse manuscripts and Revelation ever since I wrote about the golden fleece/castorum blog that led me to the Agnus Dei pics, but I'm not sure I made the possible connection between those urns/vials (scale is always a problem with medieval manuscripts because big doesn't always mean big, sometimes it means "important") and the center rosette. That's an interesting thought.