Thank you, Koen! I was rather surprised to see that the gray "blob" in Ludwig ms XV 4 is labeled "Riphei Montes": it represents mountains!
Rene recently mentioned a page by Adam Mc Lean in which the "pinecones" are compared with mountains in the Angelica De Balneis ms. A difficulty is that the cones are inverted: in the VMS their point is downward. Possibly a greater difficulty is that the "umbrellas" are missing.
But it is true that the Angelica illustration is a perfectly conventional representation of mountains and (orientation aside) it comes very close to some VMS details. So I agree that the pinecones might represent mountains or some closely related concept.
Rene recently mentioned a page by Adam Mc Lean in which the "pinecones" are compared with mountains in the Angelica De Balneis ms. A difficulty is that the cones are inverted: in the VMS their point is downward. Possibly a greater difficulty is that the "umbrellas" are missing.
But it is true that the Angelica illustration is a perfectly conventional representation of mountains and (orientation aside) it comes very close to some VMS details. So I agree that the pinecones might represent mountains or some closely related concept.