The Arma Christi [General discussion]

[-JKP-]

I agree that the text on the square banner is IHC (Ih's, Iesus).


But looking at this another way...

For a long time I have wondered why this Viola flower was drawn with such an unusual center, the upper-central part is not a strange shape on a plant, but it is strange on a Viola flower even though, for the most part, this is a naturalistic drawing. I wasn't even sure if this was meant to be the front or the back (or both):

   

What it looked like to me, before Arma Christi was suggested, was spikes. I couldn't understand why they were there and for a while I thought, "Is this an attempt to draw a Columbine flower hidden in a Viola flower?" But nothing about the rest of the image suggests Aquilegia and Aquilegia is more like horns than spikes and really doesn't have much in common with Viola other than color.

But three spikes (if that is one in the middle), would fit with Arma Christi themes.