04-09-2021, 09:21 PM
(04-09-2021, 05:34 PM)nickpelling wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.What I think is that the position some people like to take that the swallowtail merlons are just arbitrary or meaningless is rather less tenable than they believe.
To be honest I'm still open to all options. We have seen generic use of swallowtail merlons in manuscript art, so it is possible that the VM used them like that as well: they wanted to draw a wall with merlons, and decided to use those pretty swallowtail ones. If this is the case, the only possible takeaway is that they were familiar with the architectural form - which does not take us very far.
However, I would also consider options where the merlons provide more crucial information about the VM in general or the meaning of the rosettes foldout specifically. This information could be about a specific location (though, as Linda remarks, merlons are often anachronistic so this is hard to research). But it could also be about a certain intention: what did they try to communicate by using this form which is, after all, a political symbol.
For a modern day equivalent, let's say you draw a building, any building. And then draw an American flag on it. With this addition, the meaning of the building has changed. But what that meaning is depends on author, time, place, audience.
Now, if the VM was made in the early 15th century and meant to communicate the meaning of the merlons at that time, then what could this be? Apart from "this is what stuff looks like where I live"
