f82r - label x + St Catherine

[sivbugge]

Thank you Bluetoes101, for another picture. I agree. 

I think I will keep your pictures in mind as interesting references to the ring, as possible symbols of mystical marriage or purification. The rest can be open, though it interesting to reflect upon who the figures are, and who is giving and receiving. I believe the Voynich illustrations are rich in metaphorical meaning, and symbolic language. 

There is also the notion of a mystical or alchemical wedding, which connects to themes of divine blessing or even sanctification within the broader work of the soul´s purification. Especially from the 15th century onward, visualization became an increasingly central aspect of alchemic. If I understand Barbara Orist correctly, in "Visualizations in Medieval Alchemy" she concludes that: "Indeed, alchemy was unique in continually adopting various cosmological models and philosophical theories for justifying artificial transformation of substances and in abandoning them again as quickly." In such a culture of fluid adaption and development, the borrowing of visual concepts from other traditions, for example Catholicism, happened, though the relationship is complex, and not simply one of direct imitation. 

Familiar religious motifs, such as the mystical marriage, baptism, resurrection, or coronation, was used to express stages of transformation in their work. If this Voynich illustration is a borrowing to an alchemical text, the text is possibly about abstract concepts.

It therefore seems possible - though I cannot judge how plausible - that a scene resembling that of St. Catherine might appear in an alchemical or theoretical text. 

Thank you again for the discussion.