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+--- Thread: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? (/thread-3643.html)
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - eggyk - 01-02-2026
I found some nice voynichey swallowtail merlons in this manuscript:
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Vatikan, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Pal. lat. 1362 A
Pietro Vesconte
Land- und Seekarten (Portolane) — Italien, 14. Jh. (1320)
Full picture:
For the dating the website lists this as 14th century, 1320 based on a signiture from Pietro Vesconte, who was active between 1310-1330. The world map from 1448 was supposedly added later.
The map is of "Akkon", which is Acre, Israel.
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - DG97EEB - 02-02-2026
I've seen BNF 9333 mentioned a few times but not the merlons (at least as far as I can see)
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SYNTHESIS
ABOUT
Title: IBN BUTLÂN, Tacuinum sanitatis
Publication date: 1445-1450
Contributor: Eberhard V (1445-1496; Duke of Württemberg). Former owner
Contributor: Mathilde of the Palatinate. Former owner
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Type: manuscript
Language: Latin
Language: German
Format: Swabian. - 206 rectangular paintings, on the recto and verso of each folio, occupying two-thirds of the page (approximately 175-195 x 170-175 mm). These illuminations are described in the Mandragore database. - Two coats of arms on folio Dv (A: quarterly, 1st and 4th or, three stag's antlers sable [Württemberg], 2nd and 3rd gules, two addorsed bars or [
Description : F.BC. Alphabetical index of subjects. — F. 1-104v. IBN BUTLÂN, Tacuinum sanitatis: “Tacuinum sanitatis in medicina ad narrandum sex res necessarias… – … et septentrionalibus regionibus”; translation into German of the Latin text at the bottom of each leaf: “Frische feigen seind warmer (f. 1v) ...-...mer den kallten allten unnd in kallten lannden. Soli Deo Gloria. Gott Allain die Ehr» .The manuscript contains the Latin translation of the Arabic dietetic treatise Taqwīm al-ṣiḥḥa written by the physician Ibn Buṭlân in the 11th century. The German translation was added in the 16th century. O. Pächt, who was the first to devote an article to the ms. Latin 9333, suggested that it was modeled on an Italian Tacuinum from the Trecento, probably made for the Cerruti family of Verona and passing into the collections of Georg von Liechtenstein, Bishop of Trent, and then Frederick IV of Austria, Count of Tyrol (Vienna, ÖNB, Cod. Ser. n. 2644) (O. Pächt, “Eine Wiedergefundene Tacuinum-Sanitatis-Handschrift,” Münchner Jahrbuch der bildenden Kunst, 3-4 (1952/1953), pp. 172-180). The two copies do indeed present the same iconographic program and similar compositions, with the exception of a few inversions, spelling variations, and the omission of the text relating to candles in the Paris manuscript (f. 92v). For Pächt, however, attributing the manuscript to Latin 9333 was out of the question. Latin 9333 attributes the manuscript to an Italian artist, the style of the paintings being similar to illuminated works from the 1430s-1440s produced in the Upper Rhine region. According to him, the coat of arms placed at the beginning of the volume tended to confirm this dating and location, despite notable stylistic links between the miniatures and the work of the Master of the Hausbuch, an engraver active in the Middle Rhine region some thirty years later, around 1470/1490. The decoration has since given rise to other interpretations, which E. König summarized in his introductory commentary to the facsimile of the manuscript (Tacuinum sanitatis, 2009). He sees the involvement of two painters, a master responsible for the whole and a younger collaborator. The former would have painted the opening image (f. 1), and the miniatures from f. 1 onward. 69, as well as some corrections, in a style characterized by rather massive figures and a particular skill in rendering materials (wood and fabrics on f. 1, reflections of water in the fountain on f. 86v, powdery snow on f. 87). According to E. König, the BnF copy is not a direct copy of the Vienna one, but both derive from the same Lombard or Veronese manuscript, which would explain certain material differences or gaps (op. cit., 86-89). However, he acknowledges that the precise location and dating of MS Latin 9333 remains a delicate undertaking, as specialists' opinions diverge on this point (op. cit., 109-111). M.-Th. Gousset has thus proposed the Rhineland in the third quarter of the 15th century and B.Konrad painted in the Lake Constance region around 1434-1450 (Buchmalerei im Bodenseeraum 13. bis 16. Jahrhundert, E. Moser (ed.), 1997, pp. 125, 270). F. Koreny suggests an execution date around 1460-1470, but S. Kemperdick, based on the exchanges observed between Swabia and the Upper Rhine around 1430, places it more likely in Swabia at that time. E. König concludes that it is certainly a transitional work executed shortly before 1450 in Swabia, part of whose production is linked to the Württemberg dynasty. The female figures in the Tacuinum bear reminiscences of two major Swabian works from the 1430s: the Magdalene Altarpiece by Lucas Moser in the parish church of Tiefenbronn, and the Stuttgart Card Game (Stuttgart, Württenbergisches Landesmuseum, Inv. Nr. KK 15-63). However, the graphic qualities of the manuscript, particularly certain figures modeled with hatching reminiscent of copperplate engraving (e.g., folios 73v, 81v-82, 83v, 93v), would allow for a later date than these paintings, around 1445-1450
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - Koen G - 03-02-2026
I've added library names to the list on the google map to make it a bit easier to see what's on there You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
To be able to add something to the map, I need a city or at least a region of production.
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - DG97EEB - 03-02-2026
(03-02-2026, 11:33 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I've added library names to the list on the google map to make it a bit easier to see what's on there You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
To be able to add something to the map, I need a city or at least a region of production.
I've added in the details on the BNF.. Actually, when you read it, it's a good reminder that VMS is not unusual. Even a manuscript like this still has huge ambiguity about where it comes from, who produced it, and when...
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - eggyk - 03-02-2026
(03-02-2026, 11:33 AM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I've added library names to the list on the google map to make it a bit easier to see what's on there You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
To be able to add something to the map, I need a city or at least a region of production.
For the Map of Acre I posted, Pietro Vesconte was born in Genoa, signed himself as "Petrus Vesconte de janua" but produced his works while living in Venice.
So it was almost certainly made in Venice, like many other examples on the map
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - Koen G - 03-02-2026
It's interesting that they were making this MS in the Upper Rhine region in... ca. 1450? But yes, it all seems a bit muddy. Even with high-end manuscripts, this uncertainty is not uncommon.
By the way, it's the first time I notice such an extensive meats section in a Tacuinum. Maybe it's common, but I haven't found one of this size in other versions yet. (This is complicated by the fact that facsimile printers have apparently tried to corner the Tacuinum market).
There's something about the way this organ meat ("animal hearts" in this case) is hanging in a stretched out, vertical, bi-lobal way...
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - R. Sale - 03-02-2026
The Tacuinum sanitatis source was previously referenced as BNF Latin 9333. Numerous illustrations with swallowtail merlons.
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RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - Juan_Sali - 09-02-2026
(03-02-2026, 08:02 PM)R. Sale Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.The Tacuinum sanitatis source was previously referenced as BNF Latin 9333. Numerous illustrations with swallowtail merlons.This one is similar:
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You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. dated 1380-1399
Many swallowtail merlons: scans 90, 109, 117, 150, 154, 155 and others.
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - Dana Scott - 09-02-2026
(03-02-2026, 02:58 PM)Koen G Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.It's interesting that they were making this MS in the Upper Rhine region in... ca. 1450? But yes, it all seems a bit muddy. Even with high-end manuscripts, this uncertainty is not uncommon.
By the way, it's the first time I notice such an extensive meats section in a Tacuinum. Maybe it's common, but I haven't found one of this size in other versions yet. (This is complicated by the fact that facsimile printers have apparently tried to corner the Tacuinum market).
There's something about the way this organ meat ("animal hearts" in this case) is hanging in a stretched out, vertical, bi-lobal way...
Looks more like hanging "lungs and trachea" to me versus "animal hearts".
Regards,
Dana Scott
RE: 15thc perception on swallowtail merlons? - Koen G - 09-02-2026
(09-02-2026, 11:12 PM)Dana Scott Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Looks more like hanging "lungs and trachea" to me versus "animal hearts".
Regards,
Dana Scott
The heading in Latin and German certainly says "hearts". Maybe sliced in half and hung up to let the blood out? No idea.
The orientation and lobedness of it all reminded me a bit of the thing on f116v, which might also be organ meat. Though there are obvious differences and we have no reason to believe it's a heart.