Dragons, Dogs & Amadillos?

[Linda]

Just look at the animals.
f116 the sheep/goat, Sterneichen bull and ram. Then there's the lion. And the animals by the water  f79v.
The artist knew which animals have paws and which have hooves or claws. Even in the smallest drawing, f116, it can be seen clearly.
Whose feet are those on the cushion? Certainly not a sheep's.

I agree, i think that is a hint. That is why i choose to call it an ibex, not so much because it looks like one, but if you conflate it with the historical iconography of it, along with that of the mountains that are associated with it, they would not be feet, but foothills, at the foot of the mountains of the Alps.

The funny little two toed one that you can see near what would be the belly, could be used to denote a special type of foothill, called the Ivrean Morain Ampitheatre. Basically it is glacial sediment. It is quite a noticeable feature, the largest, in fact, of its type in the area. Sometimes it fills with fog.

  



Even before the birth of modern geology, some legends widespread in the Canavese area told of the existence in the AMI area of a vast lake (the existence of which is denied by geologists)[note 2] which Ypa, the mythical queen-priestess who led the Salassi people, is said to have reclaimed by having a tunnel dug near Mazzè so as to discharge its waters outside the circle of hills that acted as an embankment to the south.[10] Traces of this legend may also be found in the chronicle De bello canepiciano, compiled by Pietro Azario in the 14th century, in which the ancient presence of a large lake in the area is reported as certain news.[11] 

This shows people knew about the area at the time and long before, it was a Roman settlement in the past as well (they subjugated the Salassi).

As an extension, it is surpassed in Italy only by the similar formation surrounding Lake Garda.[2] 

Guess where the front foot is. 



The back foot doesn't appear to represent a moraine ampitheatre per se, more because it is the Maritime Alps which extend into the sea, but i would use it as a reminder to draw a bump in the shoreline where the Alps terminate, from about Monaco halfway to Genoa. You can see in this relief map that in that way all the feet are analogous to areas in the green section, extending in some places to the yellow, not much higher than the valley floor itself. Foothills.