The Voynich Ninja

Hi everyone,
I just can't find a good parallel for the "nebuly" pattern on the outer circle of f70r1. I figured I'd start a thread here to see if anyone has any such examples.
It's not really a cloudband/nebuly/wolkenband. It is like a regular circle with nine double scalloped protrusions.
Even if I ignore the nine, I can't find examples of lines that do this, alternating between flat and scalloped, let alone double scallops.
I think these patterns are unusual enough that identifying a match might give very interesting information about culture and background of the illustrator.
Here's the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. figure as a whole:

And the pattern with blue paint removed, not just because I'm a Voynich colors revisionist, but mostly to make the pattern stand out better:

I'd be really interested in any parallels others may have found for this pattern, obviously even more so if it's in a roundel!
Any ideas?

Like many of the patterns (and some of the roots), it reminds me of marine life. I often wonder if the person who did the drawings grew up or lived near the coast.

I think this is a pattern to represent water in general, not necessarily sea in particular.

Wastl & Feger proposed the respective rosette in 86v to stand for the element of water.

Looks like those old cartoons of the earth with nuclear explosions happening all over it.

That tombstone pattern in the middle, with every alternating stone having two dots - how many are there?

Davidjackson,
I counted 58 "tombstones" (or petals?) back when I wrote You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. post.

JKP: I think you're right, at least about the rosettes foldout. Remember the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

The thing in the middle looks a lot like a slender type of starfish.

(23-07-2018, 10:07 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The thing in the middle looks a lot like a slender type of starfish.

Indeed, but I'd be careful in treating it as such, because it is seen in some preceding folios in contexts seemingly water-unrelated. Like, e.g. in the immediately preceding "Voynich-pipes" folio, where it is eight-pointed (note that it is either six- or eight-pointed).

(23-07-2018, 09:35 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Looks like those old cartoons of the earth with nuclear explosions happening all over it.

That tombstone pattern in the middle, with every alternating stone having two dots - how many are there?

It is not every that has two dots, they have either two or three, in the following curious pattern:

9 (2-dotters) - 3 (3-dotters) - 6 - 2 - 4 - 1 - 2 - 2

I counted 60 dots in total.

(23-07-2018, 10:07 PM)Koen Gh. Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.JKP: I think you're right, at least about the rosettes foldout. Remember the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..

The thing in the middle looks a lot like a slender type of starfish.

Sea urchins and anemones also come to mind. Many marine critters have star-like patterns or mouth openings.

Even jellyfish sometimes have star patterns and scalloped edges:



Image credit: swimminggibraltar.tumbler.com

Note the spiral on the underside of this Cotylorhiza. One of the VMS rota also has a spiral:



Image credit: kostasladas.blogspot.com

The numbers of dots or sections or arms on many of the VMS rota seem out of place when compared to medieval spiritual or astrological/astronomical diagrams. They don't match the traditional divisions, but they would be similar to many organisms in the natural world. Critters are often symmetrical (4, 6, 8 and 12 are common), but there are many exceptions.


Sand dollars, for example, have 5 divisions:

Back when we were all looking at cloud bands, I believe there were a few that had a certain similarity to your example. That is, they were elaborate (scallop shell etc.) on the outer parts and plain (nebuly line) on the inner parts. Seems like that was fairly late in the discussion thread and I may have used the term 'hybrid' to describe them. There is a pattern in the right center rosette that also has these double-topped scallops, but other examples have not been found, as far as I know.