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flat-top / hollow roots
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RE: flat-top / hollow roots
DG97EEB > 28-01-2026, 09:56 PM
(27-03-2017, 05:42 PM)MarcoP Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.In this illustration from You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. a tree is simplified in a way similar to that of many Voynich roots.
The caption says: Illustration from a work by Mariano di Jacopo Vanni, known as Taccola (15th Century), manuscript, 17th Century.
The manuscript seems XV Century to me, for what is worth.
According to Wikipedia, You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. died in 1453 ca.
I find the Taccola example interesting. Notwithstanding the recent post around Taccola and power generators, his documents are fascinating. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
What they actually show is how poorly drawn Voynich is for the period. Lots of pipes though...and dragons -
RE: flat-top / hollow roots
Zauriek > 28-01-2026, 10:23 PM
Gona post this in case has never been mentioned just to keep the idea on the air; very unsure it has anything to do with the vms, but it is interesting to draw parallels.
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I don't know about the matter, but apparently the practice is Chinese in origin.
The end result really looks like a vms plant because is an intentional quimera.
Just keep it cool, the last thing the research needs is a new "sunflower" problem.
It is probably already been known by experts. -
RE: flat-top / hollow roots
Bluetoes101 > 28-01-2026, 10:34 PM
(26-07-2021, 05:06 AM)byatan Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Could the plants with the discontinuous root / stem transition and the ones with the nice transition simply be a stylistic difference, having been drawn by separate artists?
Personally I think this is most likely. The differences line up with possible scribes fairly well too.
We can theorise scribal variation and plant drawing variation go hand in hand based on this. As in, each scribe had certain identifiable tropes with writing and drawing.
Or we could say each scribe had their own drawer (or other ideas), but I think its much harder to say 1 person was involved and this is all coincidence. -
RE: flat-top / hollow roots
Jorge_Stolfi > 29-01-2026, 08:10 AM
(26-07-2021, 05:06 AM)byatan Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.Could the plants with the discontinuous root / stem transition and the ones with the nice transition simply be a stylistic difference, having been drawn by separate artists?
My theory for those "platform roots" and "telescoping roots" in the Herbals section is that those pages are expanded versions of sketches from the Pharma section (which may have been much more extensive originally).
Those Pharma sketches were apparently not meant to show whole plants, but only the parts that were used as remedies and that one would buy from a market or apothecary shop: usually roots (that can last for months, or years if dried), often leaves, rarely flowers or fruits. But long roots like burdock would usually come chopped into sections, and other roots would be shown cut away to show the internal structure. Like, the most conspicuous feature of the lotus root is that it has 6-8 large "tunnels" running along the root. And often the leaves were drawn with their stalks overlapping the drawing of the root.
The Author must have copied those drawings from a book, rather than from actual specimens. In doing so he often made mistakes or omitted important details, like the internal structure in cutaway roots. But he kept the cutaway surfaces. Later, when turning those sketches into full plants in the Herbal section, the Scribe blindly copied those cut surfaces when doing the roots. And ditto for the roots that were drawn chopped into sections. And those leaves with stalks overlapping the root became plants with leaves growing directly from the cutaway root...
All the best, --stolfi -
RE: flat-top / hollow roots
Bernd > 29-01-2026, 03:38 PM
(29-01-2026, 08:10 AM)Jorge_Stolfi Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.My theory for those "platform roots" and "telescoping roots" in the Herbals section is that those pages are expanded versions of sketches from the Pharma section
This would actually explain a few of the oddities. I also suspect that Hand1 illustrations including Pharma predate the more sophisticated and stylized plant drawings by other hands.
(28-01-2026, 09:56 PM)DG97EEB Wrote: You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.I find the Taccola example interesting. Notwithstanding the recent post around Taccola and power generators, his documents are fascinating. You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.
It also shows that even an excellent artist can sometimes struggle with perspective.
What they actually show is how poorly drawn Voynich is for the period. Lots of pipes though...and dragons
Palatino 766 also has a Sun(?) with pipes.