The Voynich Ninja

Although it has always been "known" that the scribe(s) used mechanical aids to draw the circles in the VM, I thought I'd spend some time with a pair of compasses to prove this, at least on the Rosettes page.



They have all been drawn with a pair of compasses. In some cases the centre of the circle is a prominent feature of the imagery; in other cases it is not. In some cases the circle is properly drawn, in others the scribe has messed it up a bit.
I go through the circles one by one, from top left to bottom right. In all cases I have measured the inner circle of the line of text. 





Top left: This is 9.3 cm wide. There is no real centre to the image.





Top middle: This is 9.3cm wide. The centre of the image is the centre of the circle.





Top right: This is 9.3cm wide. The centre of the image is slightly off centre to the circle.





Middle left: This circle has been messed up. The scribe has hit the fold of the parchment and had to recentre his pair of compasses. The width is aprox 9.3cm, but if you look the top and bottom halves of the circle do not quite match at the fold. The centre of the circle is aprox the centre of the image.





Middle right: The same thing has happened here - the circle is not perfect where the compasses have hit the fold and been recentered. The image is 9.2 cm wide.





Bottom left: This circle is 9.5cm wide. The centre of the circle is not the centre of the image; instead it is below it:

[attachment=5600]





Bottom middle: The circle is 9.5cm wide. The centre of the image corresponds with the centre of the circle.





Bottom right: This circle is 9.6cm. The centre of the image does not correspond with the centre of the circle:
[attachment=5601]

The "clock" in the bottom left is mechanically drawn on the inside circle, rather badly. I imagine it was difficult to do such a small circle with the pair of compasses available to the scribe. The outer circle, however, appears to have been drawn by hand afterwards.

Observations:
- The problems experienced by the two circles of the middle row suggest that the parchment was folded before the imagery was inked, because the compasses have hit the fold and had to be realigned.

-The circles are all roughly the same sizes, suggesting that the scribe drew the circles in sequence and before inking in the details.

The first four are the same size; the middle right is the smallest.
The following two are the same size, with the final one being slightly bigger.

If this is correct, then it means there was an overall plan, and probably a template for this drawing.

- Sometimes the centre of the circle is a feature of the image - in other cases it is ignored.

Nice work.
I was wondering if the dimensions could be in accord with a regional / national system of weights & measures
but a quick internet search says many local variants existed so that would be tricky to analyze.

Is there any chance it was done with a bottle?

(23-06-2021, 04:34 PM)DONJCH Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Is there any chance it was done with a bottle?

I don't think so. It would be different bottles, for a start, as the circles are different. IIRC, due to the imbalances caused in 15th century glassblowing, most glass containers of the time had circular or square feet that we attached to the bottom of the container.

There isn't an overlap on these circles. Instead, it seems that the circle peters out, as if the ink runs out. This would be consistent with a compass which is twisted around once quickly; if it were a bottle, the bottle would be fixed and you could do a better job, but the lines would probably be thicker.

I was just wondering about this!  And here you've got a post on it.  Thank you.

I was wondering what kind of compass he/she used.  They were not using the type with the pencil attached to one leg then.  So it would be more like dividers.  There should be a hole in the centre, and an imprint for the circle that could then be inked over.  Is that your understanding?

They just used a circinus, a common instrument similar to a pair of dividers, and attached a quill to it using a pinhook.
If you look closely at a lot of the circles you can see the impression of the central hole.