David, I think you are confusing the Arma Christi tradition with the story of the Passion. Arma Christi does refer to the Passion story, but in a single image.
The objects represented in Arma Christi are very variable. They don't even need a Jesus to be present. Nor resurrection, nor ascension.
What it does show is the most important physical objects that were involved in Christ's torture and death. Certain more abstract items like "spitting", "mocking" and the wound can also be represented, but in a way that you can see the whole story in the blink of an eye. In the VM, these have been pulled apart.
There is absolutely no required set, and the number of items can vary from under ten to over thirty. In the VM large plants there is a large set
But let me be clear, we are looking for a specific strand of an illustrative manuscript tradition (JKP might be able to say more about this). These Arma Christi pages are often included in "personal" commissioned works like books of hours. JKP already mentioned that they had an unusually strong talismanic appeal as well, so an Arma Christi page could be added to any kind of manuscript. I've mentioned an example where a "scientific" manuscript was copied precisely, but an Arma Christi page was somewhat randomly added at the end. Randomly, at least from a modern point of view.
Below an example of a limited Arma Christi programme, without any human figures:
![[Image: F039_manuscript.jpg]](https://www.traditioninaction.org/religious/images_F-J/F039_manuscript.jpg)
The objects represented in Arma Christi are very variable. They don't even need a Jesus to be present. Nor resurrection, nor ascension.
What it does show is the most important physical objects that were involved in Christ's torture and death. Certain more abstract items like "spitting", "mocking" and the wound can also be represented, but in a way that you can see the whole story in the blink of an eye. In the VM, these have been pulled apart.
There is absolutely no required set, and the number of items can vary from under ten to over thirty. In the VM large plants there is a large set
But let me be clear, we are looking for a specific strand of an illustrative manuscript tradition (JKP might be able to say more about this). These Arma Christi pages are often included in "personal" commissioned works like books of hours. JKP already mentioned that they had an unusually strong talismanic appeal as well, so an Arma Christi page could be added to any kind of manuscript. I've mentioned an example where a "scientific" manuscript was copied precisely, but an Arma Christi page was somewhat randomly added at the end. Randomly, at least from a modern point of view.
Below an example of a limited Arma Christi programme, without any human figures: