[Blog Post] Rings of the Nymphs

[Hermes777]

The situation here is an example of the difficulties resulting from single element investigations. Such investigations often become too wide-ranging and can sometimes go off course.

"It the ring is a mirror, then....."

If there are two elements, and both of them need to be valid simultaneously, then the options are more strictly limited and defined.

In the instances where it seems to be more clear as to what the VMs artist intended, it does occur that there are two or more independent elements that contribute to the (apparently) intended interpretation - like the ring and the cross together, like the 'critter / cosmic boundary / droplets' structural sequence.

While the Order of the Golden Fleece did originate from the story of Jason and the Argonauts, and that is what most people associate with it, historically it wasn't that long before the backstory was Christianized, and Jason was replaced, for obvious moral reasons, by Gideon. In the VMs, the illustration is primarily a representation of the Agnus Dei, one with a very uncommon structure, and secondly a connection to medieval, Valois Burgundy. Any mythological allusion to Jason or biblical allusion to Gideon is tertiary.

Or we could both be wrong. 

Here is an alternative interpretation of that full page, including the 'armadillo':

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I agree, images and motifs ought not be considered in isolation, but in their combinations and sequences as presented in the ms.