The Voynich Ninja

Personifications of the sun and moon can be found in old chariot-themed art, but in those days, they were full figures with sun and moon heads. One can see them in old zodiacs also, with the sun and moon faces sometimes representing both Pagan themes and early Christian themes (Jesus and Mary).

Eventually the body became disengaged from the head. Hildegard von Bingen did it c. late 12th century, so this might be one of the earlier examples.

DigBib MS 287 has them in a marginal drawing that looks like it might be part of the original manuscript, but I haven't been able to find a date. The script style is earlier than 14th century.

Quote:Linda: Dont know if this one has been posted before, but i thought it was interesting.

Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 291, f. 109v. Rabanus Maurus, De rerum naturis. 1425

It has been posted before but I think it's good to bring it up again because it's early 15th century and it has similarities in several parts of the zodiac, plus sun/moon, and the animals.

Not sure if I'd call this a parallel but it's a Sun face alright. From You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., 1460.
[attachment=3009]


Sun and moon faces and some upside down angels here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

Interesting. I initially assumed your image was a depiction of God helping in battle, but it appears to be suggestions for the use of weapons in war - in this case, using a reflective shield to dazzle your opponents with the reflection of the sun in hand to hand combat. Not really cricket in my opinion, but hey

If we're still looking for anthropomorphic suns, sun dials are a good place to look - it also fits into my theory that the scribes were influenced by their cultural surroundings outside of the manuscript tradition. See, ie the Scottish manuscript Liber Physiognomiae,:

(from another angle)

Ms Lat 696 W.8.20 fol.1r Sundial calendar, from 'Liber Physiognomiae', c.1440 (vellum)
A manuscript, sun dial and volvelle, all in one! The original book is 14th century but these images are from the first 1440 printed version.
Some of the horoscope imagery have similarities to the VM, such as the interlinked fish, or the cancer crayfish.

Sun face in BnF Arsenal 593 (c. latter half of 14th century):

[attachment=3019]


And one from Livre de la Vigne nostre Seigneur, France ca. 1450:

[attachment=3020]

(11-06-2019, 09:13 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.See, ie the Scottish manuscript Liber Physiognomiae,:
...
Ms Lat 696 W.8.20 fol.1r Sundial calendar, from 'Liber Physiognomiae', c.1440 (vellum)
A manuscript, sun dial and volvelle, all in one! The original book is 14th century but these images are from the first 1440 printed version.

The manuscript is at the Estense Library in Modena. Scans can be downloaded here:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.

The book was likely produced for the Dukes of Ferrara (the D'Este family) in the first half of the XV Century. The author of the text is unknown. This paper (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) attributes it to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., a humanist at the court of Niccolò III d'Este.
The images appear to be from a modern facsimile of the manuscript.

Yes, sorry MarcoP, I used those images from the facsimile because they showed off the volvelle to good effect.

The original text 14th century text of Liber Physiognomiae is by the Scottish scribe Michael Scot. It was extensively reprinted throughout the middle ages and Renaissance. It was often bundled together with other texts and expanded upon, as in the 15th century manuscript I linked to above.

(12-06-2019, 05:20 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The original text 14th century text of Liber Physiognomiae is by the Scottish scribe Michael Scot. It was extensively reprinted throughout the middle ages and Renaissance. It was often bundled together with other texts and expanded upon, as in the 15th century manuscript I linked to above.

Hi David,
Scot died in the early 13th century: either he is not the author or the text is much earlier. 
Also, by browsing through the manuscript, it seems that it is made of several independent parts, which likely were written by different authors. The text of the zodiac section You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (f.5r) is sometimes attributed to Johannes Regiomontanus, but that cannot be right, since the manuscript clearly is earlier. 
Mysteries everywhere 

Anyway, it's a great manuscript and the images of the planetary gods at the bottom of the zodiac pages are quite nice. Thank you for pointing it out!

PS: a description of the manuscript here: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
Not many answers, though...

Sorry, mentally mixed up 13th with 1300s and so wrote 14th. His correct dates appear to be 1175 – 1232, thanks for pointing that out.
As I understand it, he wrote the original text. This was copied quite a bit, and the book was immensely popular across Europe over the next several hundred years. 
He had nothing to do with the actual manuscript I posted, which was made, it seems, in 1440. His text formed the bulk of the content which also included other texts, as was the form for the Physiognomiae at the time.
You have amply fleshed out the context of this particular manuscript above, many thanks.

15th Century sun and moon with faces:

[attachment=3021]

It's a graffito from the kitchen of the Palazzo Davanzati in Florence. Sorry, it's a terrible photo, I only had a moment to snap it in bad light without a flash. But the drawing itself is fairly degraded too - it's right next to the kitchen fireplace.

The various graffiti in the room appear to be mid to late 15th Century. On the wall opposite is a clearly dated one - 1494 - maybe written by a tax collector (tax collectors were inhabiting the rooms during that period). On the adjacent wall is a record of the Pazzi conspiracy (of 1478). I'm not sure these graffiti have been properly studied yet.

And while we're 'a Davanzati', there's something about the palazzo's internal plumbing which calls to mind You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and the balneo section... well, maybe I'm just imagining the resemblance, but beautiful example of mediaeval clay segmented pipework anyway:

[attachment=3022]