The thing (80v & 82r)

[MarcoP]

Thank you Marco, your last post does address some of the issues in a clear way. 
Do you happen to know of any comparable imagery where a medical charm is visualized in the same way? Or would this be a rather unique kind of illustration? I have never seen a concrete medical tool surrounded by a cloud band - let alone held by the business end by a naked woman.

Hi Koen,
I am not aware of good parallels for these images. This is the problem with the balneological section, one has the choice of either speculating on some highly original way of representing an uncommon content (as I am doing), or considering a deviant way of representing a common content that had an established visual tradition (e.g. the constellations). I think the images are original because the illustrated content is.

Some weak parallels can be found in the use of clouds in Renaissance emblems. For instance Paradin (1557) offers You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view., You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.. Nothing specifically similar, but the process is: you can take any physical object and make it a symbol for an abstract concept.

Possibly, earlier parallels could be found in alchemical manuscripts, since that field produced a varied range of innovative allegories in a period closer to the production of the VMS.