The 'Chinese' Theory: For and Against

[Jorge_Stolfi]

We do not know 85r is a literal reference to German manuscripts. We do not know that is a rosary.

We know very, very little about the VMS.  The C14 date of the parchment, the various images, some spectra.   Everything else is just guesses.

The four figures of f85r1 are definitely not literal copies of the illustrations of Heinrich Laufenberg's Regimen, at least in the versions that have been posted here.  perhaps the VMS artist was drawing them from memory, perhaps he was copying form a very  bad version, perhaps he drew them from a poor verbal description...
Anyway there are several notable differences:

• The handle of the staff (hatchet?) became a knob in the VMS.
  
• The rosary (or loop of chain for carrying firewod?) turned into a chain of three wreaths.
  
• The urine jar turned into a perfume/medicine bottle (or orb-with-cross?).
  
• The "doctor's skullcap" lies under the "doctors" hair.
  

In particular, the urine jar in the Laufenberg versions had a perfectly logical appearance: unadorned, clear transparent, with a smooth and broad funnel-shaped neck, easily washable, with a sample inside that the doctor was examining against the light. The VMS version is totally unsuitable for that purpose, and the figure holding it seems to be showing it to others, not examining it himself.

Also, we do not know whether there was an ink line separating the "skullcap" from the forehead.  If there was, that line is now covered by the opaque blue paint.  But if the skullcap is only painted, it may not be original...

But, in spite of these differences, the similarities (one figure holding a staff and a big ring, one holding a vessel up high) seem too unlikely to be just coincidences.  AFAIK, before the Laufenberg reference, there was no plausible interpretation of those four figures.  The hunched lady, alone, suggested it could be an allegory for the Four Ages of (Wo)Man; but the other figures, and the wreaths of that lady, made no sense.

On the other hand, the differences above imply that the VMS artist did not understand what those details were supposed to be, or the meaning of the allegory.

All the best, --stolfi