A general look at handheld objects

[MarcoP]

Talking just about the bathing section, I am especially intrigued by the fact that, bar a few possible exceptions, the objects are never used. They are held, and some nymphs appear completely unaware of the thing in their hands. I see two possible explanations.

1) The objects are attributes. They tell us who the figure is supposed to represent, without being of much importance themselves. Attributes are of all ages and cultures. 

As an example, here is St. Stephen: 



He has two stones on his shoulders, one on his head - he does not seem to notice. He's holding a large book but does not seem like he's about to read, and there is no apparent use for the palm he is holding. 

That is because these attributes tell us something about the figure. He was stoned to death. And the Martyr's palm tells us he's a martyr. 

Hello Koen,
thank you for posting about this interesting subject.

One thing I note when comparing the Saint Stephen painting with Voynich images is that the saint is a single figure in an individual frame: he is static and does not really make part of a scene.
We can be reasonably certain that the crossbow of the Sagittarius is his attribute (no [cross]bow, no archer) and the crossbowman is a single figure in an individual frame. But, as you wrote, the medallions are rather exceptional (or maybe, less exceptional than the rest of the ms).

I also find the fact that "the most common stance is to hold the object at the end of a horizontally stretched arm" difficult to match with instances of attributes in Christian art: that seems to me a more dynamic pose, like "offering" something. How can it be interpreted? I think it will be useful to find a few parallels.

In general, the fact that these objects appear in dynamic scenes with multiple characters seems to me closer to alchemical symbolism (e.g. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.) than to attributes in Christian art. But this is just my superficial impression: it's a complex subject which definitely deserves to be researched.