No text, but a visual code

[Linda]

Hi Linda,

To me the "tubes" look rather like the mounting points for a rotating globe of the Earth, or perhaps an early attempt to represent such.

While the cloudy drawings overall may not be that similar to the pinecones, the individual bubbles with dots inside to me seem very similar to the VMS.

I could see it being mounting points. The Portuguese flag eventually adds an armillary sphere to its design. Note also the castles in the flag somewhat match the castle for Europe in the world map. This would be consistent with showing Ceuta on the world map.

I can see where the pinecone idea comes from, i just don't think they are analogous in meaning, here i think it is abstract decoration of the void outside the celestial sphere, this is not what i think it is in the vms. JKP's examples show that similar decoration has been used on plants and rooves, these at least are 'real' things, and compare better than abstract designs. I think the pinecones in the vms denote mountains that are volcanic in origin.