In the VMs Zodiac and various other places, the person who put down the VMs ink work makes use of a simple, but interesting artistic element. It consists of two relatively longer, closely placed, parallel lines that are crossed at regular intervals by a series of short lines. The use of this element is most obvious in some of the tub patterns at the start of the VMs Zodiac, but it also occurs in some of the patterned markers found in the circular bands of text from the Zodiac to the Nine Rosettes.
In the examples from the tub patterns, there seems to be an obvious intent to create a regular, alternating pattern of marked and unmarked bands. A variation of light and dark, in artistic terms, if you will, rather than all the same. This is the artistic technique of hatching, lines drawn to create shades of light and dark.
The hatching conundrum has long been a topic of discussion: the who, where and when particularly. I recently found a Wikipedia article on an artist known only as Master E. S., from monogrammed playing cards, etc. However the historical record of this artistic technique is problematic for VMs investigations that want to hold the VMs parchment dates and the VMs creation dates close together.
Either the VMs contains a very early use of hatching technique or, perhaps, it is something else. One suggestion in that regard was that the patterns were borrowed from pottery produced in Islamic Spain, that the pattern on the tubs came from albarelli. But I was left to do my own discovery, so you can see the potential flaws blossoming. However, what I found from examples was the use of a pattern with general similarities, but also with its own specific qualities. Various examples of pottery do have patterns of closely placed parallel lines drawn horizontally around the object, and repeatedly crossed by a series of shorter lines. In many examples, these lines appear to be quickly applied without particular concern that they connect with the parallel lines on either side. In the limited sample of objects I discovered, all representations of this pattern have the crossing lines oriented on the diagonal. This contrasts with the VMs Zodiac examples, which always have the crossing lines perpendicular to the longer, parallel lines.
In a few of the pottery examples, a bit more care had been taken to get the crossing lines all the way across and connected to the two parallel lines and in these examples there are some that show an interesting curve at either end of the crossing line, as they approach the parallel lines, making each of the crossing lines into an elongated 'S' shape. To me, the elongated 'S' pattern is indicative of a spiral. A spiral pattern is suggestive of twisted cordage, and the use of spirally wound fiber in basketry. So the pottery pattern could have come from basketry, but how do potential ropes help to explain the drawings of the VMs Zodiac, especially in the chevrons of VMs Pisces?
In separate investigations it has been shown that Egyptian art exhibits the use of ladder-like patterns. However iit is not clear what the use of this pattern may represent in the Egyptian interpretation. Even more interesting is the occurrence of a 'ladder and dot' pattern, where the center of the square between each rung of the ladder has been marked with a dot. This occurs only once in the VMs, to my knowledge, interesting to see where that is.
It still seems to me that the VMs tub patterns, where these ladder elements are located, are intended to create designs that are composed of alternating light and dark bands oriented in different directions. Historically it is clear that the use of such patterns based on alternating bands can be found in heraldic tradition. Other VMs tub patterns also match heraldic tradition. Doesn't this establish a meaningful method of communication between author and reader, providing the reader is cognizant of the symbols the illustrations are providing?
I'm not yet planning to purchase the recently released facsimile edition of the VM, but I would like to know people's opinions about it and the accompanying texts. In the other thread, people did not want to read spoilers, which is of course something to be respected, so I added spoiler tags here for anyone who would like to share his/her opinion already.
Is there a reason why Hans Kraus chose to donate the VMS to Yale, of all places? Was this decision influenced by the fact that Yale professor Leonell C. Strong had proposed a decipherment of the VMS? It looks like Strong left Yale in 1953, so obviously the decision would not have been made to help Strong get access to the actual manuscript.
It's interesting that Kraus would donate the VMS and the sections of Voynich's papers related to it to Yale, but the rest to the Grolier Club. Why not keep the collection intact?
I think it's an interesting question whether the decision to donate the VMS to Yale was purely Kraus' idea, or whether Yale might have actively taken an interest in the VMS and "requested" it in one way or another.
Much has been written about the items held by the nymphs, and they are notoriously hard to identify with certainty. That is why, for my most recent You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., I decided to take a step back and look at the way items are held, trying to avoid interpretation on an individual level. I did not look at barrels, tubes and stars, since there are too many of them and they are not really handheld items.
There are three "sections" in the manuscript that show handheld objects:
The calendar roundels.
Almost all of these are stars, or flowers that look like stars on a string. This is also the case for Virgo. The exception is the crossbowman, who is exceptional for several reasons:
only unambiguous weapon in the manuscript
only item held, or at least "handled" with both hands, in the entire manuscript
perhaps the only item that can be interpreted at a basic level without discussion. It's a crossbow!
All of this make the crossbowman rather exceptional.
Separate diagrams
These are the diagram on You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and both diagrams on the reverse of the large foldout. The three of them feature four human figures in a circular or square arrangement.
On You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. there is only one handheld object, a white disk or globe. It is held in a unique way, with a very large angle in the arm, making the item almost hang above the figure's head.
The other two diagrams are also exceptional object-wise. These are the only folios where we see nymphs holding more than one item. Also, the only person actually wearing a ring. It is also very interesting to note that these figures have been drawn as fully clothed to begin with, without any overpainting in thick Pelling paint.
Quire 13 (bathing section)
This leaves the vast majority of object-holders in the bathing section. The most common stance is to hold the object at the end of a horizontally stretched arm. The first five examples are very clear, while the bottom two are a bit different. Still, it is interesting to see that five nymphs hold very different objects in the same way.
Four nymphs hold the object by their side like they don't care:
Some objects are held behind the back, though poses differ:
Note that the object held by the bottom nymph is the same as the one held out by one of the first group, only there a spike is at the top. This likely has to be seen as an "in use" and "disabled" version of the same thing.
Then there are some specials: one held in or near the mouth, one wrapped around the body, one is manipulating a waterflow, one holding up a large ring, and one apparently tripling its arm length to extend an "apple" ahead of another one.
CONCLUSIONS
The crossbowman is an exception on many levels.
There is variety in the way objects are held, but also a number of recurring poses. Especially the "horizontal stretched arm" is common.
Objects are generally isolated from other nymphs and the environment. They are held, but it is not clear for what reason.
One object per nymphs, with the exception of the four-way diagrams.
INTERPRETATION
Talking just about the bathing section, I am especially intrigued by the fact that, bar a few possible exceptions, the objects are never used. They are held, and some nymphs appear completely unaware of the thing in their hands. I see two possible explanations.
1) The objects are attributes. They tell us who the figure is supposed to represent, without being of much importance themselves. Attributes are of all ages and cultures.
As an example, here is St. Stephen:
He has two stones on his shoulders, one on his head - he does not seem to notice. He's holding a large book but does not seem like he's about to read, and there is no apparent use for the palm he is holding.
That is because these attributes tell us something about the figure. He was stoned to death. And the Martyr's palm tells us he's a martyr.
Hence, it is conceivable that the items are meant to tell us who the nymphs are.
2. A second option is that the items are more important and the nymphs are just there to hold them, like mannequins. If the item is all that matters, it is of no importance who holds it.
Naked people are, in a way, like mannequins, stripped of all social markers. And mannequins are like naked people
There is some overlap between these two options, and I don't think they are mutually exclusive.
The second option is problematic in a way though. Why choose naked women as mannequins? This could only be explained against a cultural background where such a thing was acceptable, which, I believe, would exclude most areas under the rule of Catholicism.
So well, that's how I see the objects as a whole. What do you think?
I'm trying to decide whether the text in the Recipes folios is a list of bulleted descriptions, each bullet marked by a star. The trouble is that in many cases the stars don't "line up" with the lines of text.
What are the opinions on this - were the stars drawn in, higgledy-piggledy, after the text, with no relation to the text? Or are they indeed like bullet marks?
By my count this is the number of margin stars on each Recipe folio:
The variation in number of stars does suggest that they relate to the text, otherwise wouldn't it be more likely that there are the same number on each folio, if they are simply decoration?
(The average number of stars per folio is 14. Thus there are an estimated 56 stars missing due to the two missing folios f109 and f110. This would bring the original total number of stars in the Recipes to 380, by my count.)
I'm working on a short blog post about nymph attributes, and I realized I had never looked properly at these guys before. Image contrast etc. has been altered:
Now there are some weird things about them. For starters, I think the faces are drawn in a different style than those in the other nymphy sections. They are all clothed. They all have two items, which is highly exceptional. How I interpret the items, very tentatively:
Top left (my image): container, product (bread? vegetable?) or gold?
Top right: container, cereal crop
Bottom left: holding yellow globe in one hand, pointing to an object with writing (??) with the other.
Bottom right: yellow thing in one hand, not sure whether the top part belongs with it, in that case it looks like a vegetable. White globe in the other. One can argue that the white globe is part of the background, but the way the hand is held suggests to me that it is an item.
Interestingly, a white globe is also held by this figure mentioned recently by Davidsch:
In both cases, the globe is held up in the figure's right hand (proper).
So what are your thoughts about these nymphs? Has the "writing" been studied before? It almost looks like som kind of tablet...
Some details on the Rosette page could make the difference. Currently i want to draw attention to You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
[attachment=774]
It is the left “road” on the page and the letter composition, and it has a very special name:
ddssShx
ddssShx
What we see here is a literal road, a path, a vein, a stump, or has it a symbolic meaning?
It is clear that it shows a connection between 2 parts of the page.
If we know, or can guess those parts, can we tell what this path is?
There are 3 labels on that “path”.
One on top, this one in the middle, and on the bottom.
ytedar
ddssShx
daldas
The position and the distance of the 3 words, shows us that the words do not belong to each other and do not form one sentence,
but must be used on itself, as labels.
Some ideas: corridor north, corridor south. Or names, China, Pakistan. Or purification of the mind, purification of the body.
Is it a path over water, or the path to heaven or hell ?
Then on the left and right of the path there are also two more labels:
soiindy
ofardy
In total we now have:
ytedar soiindy ddssShx ofardy daldas
Searching for matching occurrences gives:
ytedar: 3 matches, in f73v, f85r2 and f104v.
soiindy: none
ddssShx: none (dd occurs 25 times, ss occurs 33 times, x 44 times)
ofardy: none (fard: none, far: 3 matches, in f1r, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. textpage and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. herbal)
daldas: none (dalda: none, alda: none, daldar: none, aldar: 3 matches, in You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. textpage, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. star textpage and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. herbal)
Further more, the letter x occurs 44 times in total, and in 7 words in the Rosette !
xar
xasashe
xoltedy
xdar
soshxor
dxar
There are three options for dd ss sh x, it is a label or it is a number, or is it both.
If dd ss Sh x would stand for a name, then dd ss must have a vowel in d or s at least.
Then it could stand for a word with this pattern (v=vowel, c=consonant)
d-d- ss
cvcv cc
or
-d-d ss
vcvc cc
... or all the combination where -d or d- of -s or s- represent vc or cv.
Are there such words, where the last letter of the word is a low frequent letter (such as x, y, z) ?
![[Image: lkdkjdl.jpg?w=616]](https://herculeaf.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/lkdkjdl.jpg?w=616)
![[Image: untitled-4.jpg?w=616]](https://herculeaf.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/untitled-4.jpg?w=616)
![[Image: untitled-51.jpg?w=616]](https://herculeaf.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/untitled-51.jpg?w=616)
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![[Image: side.jpg?w=616]](https://herculeaf.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/side.jpg?w=616)
![[Image: behind-back.jpg?w=616]](https://herculeaf.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/behind-back.jpg?w=616)
![[Image: specials.jpg?w=616]](https://herculeaf.files.wordpress.com/2016/10/specials.jpg?w=616)
![[Image: St-stephen.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d3/St-stephen.jpg)
![[Image: headless-mannequins-gloss-finish-93a.jpg]](https://www.subastralinc.com/media/extendware/ewimageopt/media/inline/85/5/headless-mannequins-gloss-finish-93a.jpg)
![[Image: f57v_manmet-balinhand-263x300.jpg]](http://voynich.webpoint.nl/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/f57v_manmet-balinhand-263x300.jpg)
![[Image: bokeofjona1.jpg]](https://voynichnumerology.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/bokeofjona1.jpg)
