A slightly different interpretation, it's not duplication. It's pairing. So it's not two halves of a whole, it's the corresponding parts of a pair. Is Pisces first because the Gregorian calendar did not start till 1582? Pisces is a pair of fish, and VMs Cancer is a pair of crayfish. Two pairs of aquatic animals. The medallions of Aries and Taurus are both paired. Two pairs of land animals. And Gemini is the sacred marriage, the pairing of complementary opposites. The first five houses of the VMs Zodiac sequence have pairing presented in their medallions.
As far as winter being slack time, so who cares. The fact of the matter is that where these months would be expected to be, there is a place where a page has been cut out. There are in fact several places where this has occurred in the VMs. And where the missing months are concerned, this is in a sequence where the right hand side of the book is all fold-outs, so potentially four images are missing, which could accommodate those two months split into pairs, or the two months and two other illustrations.
Assumptions should at least try to accommodate the evidence.
And regarding ambiguity, the VMs thrives on it.
As far as winter being slack time, so who cares. The fact of the matter is that where these months would be expected to be, there is a place where a page has been cut out. There are in fact several places where this has occurred in the VMs. And where the missing months are concerned, this is in a sequence where the right hand side of the book is all fold-outs, so potentially four images are missing, which could accommodate those two months split into pairs, or the two months and two other illustrations.
Assumptions should at least try to accommodate the evidence.
And regarding ambiguity, the VMs thrives on it.