[split] BAV Pal. lat. 291. De rerum naturis. 1425

[-JKP-]

I interpret the one on the right here as a concave niche (similar to the one on the left) decorated with a shell. 

And if the item in Quire 13 were interpreted as being concave, then the design would be much more like a muqarnas vault.

[pic deleted for brevity]

Did anybody every build such a vault over a fountain? Are all the women performing ghusl? Maybe all the mikveh guesses are nearly right.

Emma, when I posted the blog about domes, and the wonderful textures they have that seem similar to some of the VMS patterns and textures, I tried to find out if they were also built over fountains, but most of what I found was grottos and more traditional fountains. I can't remember finding any of this specific design although I expect they probably exist, since there were many public fountains built into the cavities of buildings.

A lot of them are quite simple, like these:



More ornate (Islamic):




But one that may be of interest because it includes several archways and a recess (which is slightly similar to the arched VMS pool drawing with pairs of nymphs) is this Moorish fountain: