The Voynich Ninja

What could it be and why would it be above this nymph? I've likened it to certain things before but I'm unable to fully understand its significance. What do you think?

I know that Diane has likened this to a Hindu or Buddhist head or crown (I can't remember which), and the top part does look that way, but most Buddhist heads usually have smooth pendulous earlobes and this looks more like curled locks of hair at the sides (Orthodox Jewish). I don't know whether there might be a combined message here (and I'm not sure which thread it was that she posted a picture).


There are also many grotto shrines that have this general look.

A Hindu goddess crown includes not only a headdress similar to this (but with rows of beads, not locks of hair, at the sides), but interestingly, they also include a three-pronged scepter (trident) with the outer two prongs being curved. Many of the early scepters were based on plant shapes.


Since so much of the VMS includes females, I'd be more inclined to lean toward it being goddess-related.


The goddess Hera/Juno was often portrayed with curls down the sides of her neck and because they were Pagan, many of the Greco-Roman goddesses were associated with grottoes, caves, water, etc.

The goddess Ceres was also depicted with curls at the sides, and holding sheaves of grain.

So far the most "like" thing I've seen is a Persephone statue, wearing her hair in the Mediterranean "young lady" style. This explains the curls and the waves in the bottom of the triangle - though not quite the top of the triangle...



The question also remains why the hairdo (??) of a woman was isolated and placed over a nymph. It does indeed seem like a "double meaning" is hard to avoid.
A cave would have some thematic link to Persephone, of course

Since this is looking as if emanating from the stuff she's holding, I think this pattern represents smell/incense.

Yeah I agree with Anton here.
To be honest this is probably one of the Q13 nymphs I've always considered as the most straightforward looking: she's holding a flower, and the flower's scent is represented by the cloud shape.
The perception of odors, just like that of sound and color, was under investigation in the middle ages, and the question of whether odors were perceived by the nose as a direct effluence of things, whether the scent was a "form" imprinted on the air, or whether it was a dry emanation that mixed with the moisture in the air was still unresolved.

The first thing it reminds me of are the canopies above saints on cathedral facades and the flower could of course be a saint's attribute. the question would be why he draws a saint naked

Anton and VViews: I hadn't noticed yet that the rightmost "curl" is attached to the left flower. The lines above it do indeed look like some kind of smoke. While this might be part of the solution, I wouldn't call it a clear-cut answer though. 

First, flowers themselves generally don't give off a large cloud of smoke. You say it might symbolize scent, but I suspect this is anachronistic. Was "pleasant scent" ever represented as a visible cloud before modern cartoons? (I don't know, but the question seems important in this context). 

And if it's actual visible smoke, like from incense, which flowers might they be? And why does the smoke shape like that? Smoke will flare out towards the top, not converge in a pyramid shape. And why has the design been made symmetrical, with a curl descending on the other side as well?

I think scent, not smoke. In the middle ages, scent of certain plants was believed to drive evil spirits away, and of other plants - to attract them.

The artist is using different patterns (ornaments) to represent different things - one for mountains, another for water, yet another for air, then cloudband etc. In this view, it's more important to look at the ornament, not at the shape. Is this pattern recognized anywhere else in the MS?!

Notice the blue stripe on every other level of the smoke/scent/entrance? Could be symbolic of purity and the plant she's holding could be sage (I think it is burned to purify places in the East- not my culture but someone on here will know).

Andrew

Koen Gh,
"Was "pleasant scent" ever represented as a visible cloud before modern cartoons? (I don't know, but the question seems important in this context). "


In the Aristotelian view (see De Anima & De Sensu), scent was understood as a property of the odorous thing, that gives "form" to the moisture in the air, just like a signet that is imprinted in wax gives the wax the form of the seal, without the wax carrying any of the metal from the signet. The air is thus acted upon by the scent, but the air does not perceive it: perceiving is the job of the sense organs of humans and animals.
In Problems, he also ponders whether smells are more like smoke or more like vapor. This is a real problem for him because on the one hand, he notes that heat enhances smells, but on the other, that they need moisture to be perceived.
What I am thinking is that the shape we see here is the "form" given to the moisture in the air, or a representation of scent as vapor. I have yet to find a version of Aristotle's works where these processes are illustrated.