I think it very interesting that the earliest example which Marco found is a Polish manuscript (400ca Polish cod. 1842), and that then there is such a substantial gap (almost 2 generations) before the first German one, after which it seems to become the latest fad there.
But it is frustrating not to have that geographic range to put these things into context.
I cannot see anywhere that Marco mentions whether he looked at Byzantine, French, Spanish, North African, Syrian, Armenian etc. and they all came up blank. If so then there is a genuine argument for passage of the idea from Polish-speaking to German-speaking regions. It's a bit early to suppose a manuscript artist "freed from the yoke of tradition". It's more a case of the patron wanting the thing another chap had and which struck him as nicely different.
It might be relevant to mention that in 1409 there was an expulsion [ my source calls is 'a general exodus'] of persons of German lineage from Prague. To judge from the astronomical instruments which subsequently appeared in Nuremberg, astronomical studies in Prague were already pretty sophisticated by then, and the refugees need for money meant that they brought, but then sold, astronomical texts and instruments in the places that they went. This, for example is said by some to be the reason for Nuremberg's suddenly acquiring a reputation in astronomy, and one which brought Regiomontanus later.
It starts about 1427.
I reproduced some of my source when writing two posts about a particular example of the 'cloud band' pattern - one which Don of Talahassee recently found.
If anyone's interested, the first of my posts talks about the image, and why it is so interesting
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The second gives the biography of "Reynardus" of Prague, in Nuremberg. Like Kircher in his own day, Reinhard was thought a genius but has since been almost forgotten.
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PS - for non-Europeans... the link between Prague and Germany is the river Elbe.