The Voynich Ninja

EDIT: split from Arma Christi thread.

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Something else entirely, for those more experienced with handwriting than me. I've only recently learned about the IHS Christogram through this thread. I just noticed that (I know it's a stretch) it's kind of present in the scribble inside the large "sun"-flower on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. . This would leave a protrusion on top and a mark at the bottom though.

[attachment=3299]

(13-09-2019, 11:51 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I've only recently learned about the IHS Christogram through this thread. I just noticed that (I know it's a stretch) it's kind of present in the scribble inside the large "sun"-flower on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. .

In case this hasn't been mentioned yet, the IHS monogram inside a sun is the symbol of the Jesuits.
who hath ears to hear let him hear 

I'm working on a blog post about this right now, I hadn't published anything yet this month.

The adoption by the Jesuits is too late, but the interesting thing is that we can situate the introduction of the symbol to a specific date, place and even figure

The crucial figure is Bernardino of Siena, who introduced the Sunburst with IHS somewhere in the early 15th century. Here he is painted in 1444, the year of his death.

[attachment=3562]

(There are many portraits like this from around the same time, for example You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. )

Man, that is one life like portrait of him towards the end of his life (note the floating Christogram in the back)
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Anyway, that flower on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. is very interesting. It's obviously two layered, one top layer with an underlayer in green poking out (the top layer has been drawn as one piece, then the green leaves added in afterwards).

JKP, what sort of plant do you think it is?

It's possible the squiggle in the middle is the start of the drawing of the stamen or something, and the scribe forgot to finish the work.

(22-10-2019, 09:16 PM)davidjackson Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It's obviously two layered, one top layer with an underlayer in green poking out (the top layer has been drawn as one piece, then the green leaves added in afterwards).

I don't know whether Marco intended this as such, but the comparison image he posted offers a possible explanation: two kinds of rays, alternating.
In general, this kind of sunburst is often two-layered, with solid rays on top and line-rays in the back.

Yes I see where you are coming from. But that doesn't explain away the unusual stick the whole thing is resting upon.

Unusual indeed, I have no idea what that could be.


I've been looking for early attestations of the Sun IHS in manuscripts but no success so far, it's hard to search for. JKP found this one from Milan, 1446, two years after the preacher's death. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.



I haven't found yet when precisely he introduced the symbol, but it must have been the 1420's or earlier. By the mid 1440's it becomes common in paintings of Bernardino, and I have the impression that by then it had already become accepted in Italy.

Any manuscripts with earlier attestations than 1446 must almost certainly be Italian.

The British museum uses the term "San Bernardino rays", see:
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (1530-1540)
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (1480-1510)

However, this appears to be a specific term used for maiolica. All examples are rather late.

This is more interesting timing-wise, about the Palazzio Pubblico in Siena, translated from the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.:


"At the center of the façade a large disk presents the trigram of Christ (1425, painted by Battista di Niccolò), conceived by Saint Bernardino of Siena."

So we know that this was on public display by 1425: