The Voynich Ninja

Scallop patterns are very common in medieval art (and any art really). They can indicate scales, feathers, fur, mountains, armor and probably much more. On a few VM folios, a slightly enhanced version is used, where many of the "scales" are dotted. 
You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. both combine plain scales, dotted scales and something tent-like topped by a pole, water emerging from each. The pattern is also used on the two-birds page and to some extent on the rosettes foldout.

Browsing around, I came across an image from the You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., of  a castle with dotted roof tiles.

[attachment=3983]

All of this is rather confusing. I'd have thought the Q13B dotted scallops must be mountains since water flows from them, but their orientation and color is quite similar to that of roof tiles as well. It almost feels like Q13B, the rosettes foldout and its reverse are patched together from a catalogue of roof and tent images...

Edit: the Wenceslas bible also contains some tents with extremely VM-like cloud band patterns, though I feel like this must have been pointed out before:

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The armor with dotted scallops I've seen was in Greek pottery - I don't recall any medieval example.

Isn't the combination of roof tiles with a canopy on top rather odd though?

There are other things drawn with dotted scallops. I have examples but I don't know how quickly I can find them... let me try (some things are difficult to categorize)...

If you look up the Abbey S Foy you will see a portal sculpture of Jesus with stars around him. There are many scallops used for the water, and the cloudband, but it is not the usual cloudband as seen in manuscripts, it is "layered" like some of the VMS textures. No dots, but you can look and get a feeling for why someone might draw it this way. There are also numerous stars.

I have an example on my other computer, but don't have time to remote in and hunt it up. I'll try to find a link... back in a moment...

Okay, this isn't the best, it's a bit small, but look at the central textures, several groups of them:

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Roof tiles are sometimes drawn with a little dash instead of a dot, but it's the same idea.

Mappa mundi also have scalloped textures, sometimes with dots. They usually represent mountains.

I know I have quite a few scallops and dotted scallops, but I did not key them as "texture" or "scallops", they are all over the hard drive under categories to do with whatever else is in the image. Sorry, I'll post them as I find them.

I like this find, it falls in line with my own thinking about the vms designs, which is that they represent mountains with volcanic origin. 

The commonality between mountain tops and roof tops, beyond tops, heights, slanted aspect, and water runoff, could be Slate Tiles.



Wiki 

Slate is a fine-grained, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., homogeneous You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. derived from an original You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.-type You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. composed of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. or You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. through low-grade regional You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock.You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.[/font] 

Hence the dots? I don't think they are holes. The two items in the rosettes that appear to be volcano related have circles, rather than dots, in their design, i think this could indicate a different type of volcanic rock, ie igneous, yet still shows there is structure to it, whereas the surrounding layered designs seem to indicate sedimentary types. Some of the layered drawings also have dots in the layers, perhaps indicating igneous intrusions, sometimes they are only on the bottom, perhaps indicating bedrock. In one section, to the right of the volcano-like item with the crenellations at the top, there are tubular items drawn with dots at the top which resemble basalt columns. 

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There are thin layers drawn beyond this, perhaps indicating soil, as vegetation seems to be drawn at the outer edges (grass?) This appears to me to be similar to various mountains portrayed in the Beatus map tradition, but with further detail in showing different types of rock and mountains which exist around the ecumene.



I can also see tent canopies being a less stable analogy to rooftops, and thus mountains, in many of the aforementioned aspects. They can also resemble volcanoes if one is cooking or heating inside and smoke comes out the top. The finials at the tops are i think used as mnemonics for this idea throughout quire 13. The example from the Wenceslas bible resembles the volcano-like objects in the rosettes quite a bit with regard to the vertical lines and dots.

Other Wenceslas related themes also seem to fit with other imagery in the vms as well.

I agree, the style of drawing human figures is different and the clothing style is older, but there is a similar use of patterns.

There might be some sense in likening mountains to roofs, and perhaps expanding this metaphor to different kinds of roofs for different kinds of elevations. It reminds me of the expression You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., which according to that wiki was a native expression though only attested in Europe from the 19th century. There may be other expressions of course, perhaps more everyday things like calling the tops of trees a canopy.

I recently came across this illustration of Perseus, from Gottweig Stiftsbibliothek MS 7 (146).
The element at the bottom reminds me of similar ones seen in the VMS (e.g. in f86v3).
According to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., it's a pile of rocks.
Have you ever seen anything similar in other manuscripts?

Here is a string discussing this pattern with a few other ideas.

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(23-02-2021, 03:49 AM)MichelleL11 Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Here is a string discussing this pattern with a few other ideas.

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Nice, thanks! Maybe a moderator can merge?