12-03-2016, 09:10 PM
Here is my informal translation of a passage from “Il Giardino Magico degli Alchimisti” by Vera Segre Rutz (pag. L -LIII).
As the pessage itself makes clear, this subject is not related with Alchemical Herbals in particular.
Images from Alchemical Herbal BNF 17848 (many thanks to Rene!).
I attach a slightly processed detail from the Naples Dioscorides f 78r (but the illustration is very dark, not easy to read). If someone had a link to the Vienna Dioscorides f 126r, I would be interested in seeing if it is clearer).
In addition to the geometrical simplification, there is another factor that contrasts naturalism and appears very strange to the modern eye: the prominent zoomorphic and anthropomorphic elements. Often, these elements correspond to analogies that are also expressed in the name of the plant, for instance You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. [Christ's Hands] (cap. 46), a kind of orchid [in Italian] still named “manine” (small hands) and scientifically “Orchis dactylorhiza”, because its roots remember the shape of a human hand. The plant named You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (cap. 34) has been associated with the fish “lucius” (pike) and features a large fish as a zoomorphich root. This phenomenon begins with the Naples Dioscorides [600 – 650 ca] [footnote: in the text of Dioscorides the small flowers of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. are described as similar to masks and they are illustrated as anthropomorfic in the Naples manuscript]. [In the alchemical herbal tradition] it extends to many plants, and sometimes this cannot be linked with the contents of the text. With the exception of “herba You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.” (cap. 3) the anthropomorphism or zoomorphism happens in the roots. Once again, the ancient Dioscorides manuscripts, from Wien and Naples, provide precedents, with the root of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. presenting a human appearance. Vegetal images with anthropomorphic or zoomorphic roots appear in a number of medieval botanic manuscripts, of the same age but not directly related with the alchemical manuscripts [the earliest dated alchemical herbal was written in 1378]. For instance, Florence ms Palat. 586 (XIV Century) from Spain-Provence, Laurenziana ms Redi 165 and the very similar herbal in the Gambalunghiana Library, Rimini. This aspect has been explained as “drolerie,” i.e. as a purely decorative phenomenon, or as a derivation from the Arabic figurative culture, linked with legends and tales of oriental origin that had a wide circulation. We think the reference to the Arabic tradition is mainly relevant for the stylization and geometrization of botanical shapes, but it is vague in relation with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic roots. … Arabic botanic illustration is a little studied field, not very accessible to Western researchers, but from the sources I know, I would not say that the Arabs introduced specific zoomorphic or anthropomorphic iconographies. The anthropomorphism or zoomorphism of plants, in particular of roots, which are believed to have the higher pharmaceutical efficacy, is part of a magic-based idea of the vegetal world; it is a sign of the recognition of a personality of the plant, of its own powerful vitality. For the same reason, we find [in the text] prayers to be addressed to the plants, prescribed as a condition to benefit of their more or less occult powers. The magic-animistic view of the vegetal world has ancestral origins and is clearly mirrored in the language about plants. Anthropomorphic or zoomorphic metaphors are among the main universal principles in the classification of plants, with Italian names such as “bocca di ...” “lingua di ...” “piede di ...” “zampa di ...” “coda di ...”, in Latin “pes ….” “ungula ….” “lingua ….” followed by the chosen animal [in English houndstongue, houndstooth, snapdragon, cat's tail]. The human and animal body is the main model in the conceptualization of the natural world: a universal anthropologic phenomenon of particular importance for the idea of nature as animated, inhabited by demons and by plants having their own soul. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements in the alchemical herbals visualize a magic and metaphorical mentality, which has left deep traces in our languages in the popular names of plants.
See also the Naples Dioscurides You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
Segre describes the flowers of Lonchitis as anthropomorphic, but they look like dog heads to me.
As the pessage itself makes clear, this subject is not related with Alchemical Herbals in particular.
Images from Alchemical Herbal BNF 17848 (many thanks to Rene!).
I attach a slightly processed detail from the Naples Dioscorides f 78r (but the illustration is very dark, not easy to read). If someone had a link to the Vienna Dioscorides f 126r, I would be interested in seeing if it is clearer).
In addition to the geometrical simplification, there is another factor that contrasts naturalism and appears very strange to the modern eye: the prominent zoomorphic and anthropomorphic elements. Often, these elements correspond to analogies that are also expressed in the name of the plant, for instance You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. [Christ's Hands] (cap. 46), a kind of orchid [in Italian] still named “manine” (small hands) and scientifically “Orchis dactylorhiza”, because its roots remember the shape of a human hand. The plant named You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. (cap. 34) has been associated with the fish “lucius” (pike) and features a large fish as a zoomorphich root. This phenomenon begins with the Naples Dioscorides [600 – 650 ca] [footnote: in the text of Dioscorides the small flowers of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. are described as similar to masks and they are illustrated as anthropomorfic in the Naples manuscript]. [In the alchemical herbal tradition] it extends to many plants, and sometimes this cannot be linked with the contents of the text. With the exception of “herba You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.” (cap. 3) the anthropomorphism or zoomorphism happens in the roots. Once again, the ancient Dioscorides manuscripts, from Wien and Naples, provide precedents, with the root of You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. presenting a human appearance. Vegetal images with anthropomorphic or zoomorphic roots appear in a number of medieval botanic manuscripts, of the same age but not directly related with the alchemical manuscripts [the earliest dated alchemical herbal was written in 1378]. For instance, Florence ms Palat. 586 (XIV Century) from Spain-Provence, Laurenziana ms Redi 165 and the very similar herbal in the Gambalunghiana Library, Rimini. This aspect has been explained as “drolerie,” i.e. as a purely decorative phenomenon, or as a derivation from the Arabic figurative culture, linked with legends and tales of oriental origin that had a wide circulation. We think the reference to the Arabic tradition is mainly relevant for the stylization and geometrization of botanical shapes, but it is vague in relation with anthropomorphic and zoomorphic roots. … Arabic botanic illustration is a little studied field, not very accessible to Western researchers, but from the sources I know, I would not say that the Arabs introduced specific zoomorphic or anthropomorphic iconographies. The anthropomorphism or zoomorphism of plants, in particular of roots, which are believed to have the higher pharmaceutical efficacy, is part of a magic-based idea of the vegetal world; it is a sign of the recognition of a personality of the plant, of its own powerful vitality. For the same reason, we find [in the text] prayers to be addressed to the plants, prescribed as a condition to benefit of their more or less occult powers. The magic-animistic view of the vegetal world has ancestral origins and is clearly mirrored in the language about plants. Anthropomorphic or zoomorphic metaphors are among the main universal principles in the classification of plants, with Italian names such as “bocca di ...” “lingua di ...” “piede di ...” “zampa di ...” “coda di ...”, in Latin “pes ….” “ungula ….” “lingua ….” followed by the chosen animal [in English houndstongue, houndstooth, snapdragon, cat's tail]. The human and animal body is the main model in the conceptualization of the natural world: a universal anthropologic phenomenon of particular importance for the idea of nature as animated, inhabited by demons and by plants having their own soul. Anthropomorphic and zoomorphic elements in the alchemical herbals visualize a magic and metaphorical mentality, which has left deep traces in our languages in the popular names of plants.
See also the Naples Dioscurides You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view..
Segre describes the flowers of Lonchitis as anthropomorphic, but they look like dog heads to me.
