Comparison of the structure of plants in the Materia Medica and the VMS.

[bi3mw]

While trying to categorize the plants in the VMS, I noticed that the schematic structure is partly similar to the one in the Materia Medica. What I mean by schematic can be illustrated by the following example ( the similarity can therefore be quite abstract ):

   

Here the direct comparison with a Materia Medica ( Dioscorides ) from the 15th century:

   

                   
 
   

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I am not saying that the plant illustrations in the VMS are in the Materia Medica tradition, only that there are similarities. A comparison with other 15th century MS would also be interesting here.

Edit: As already shown in the opening example, several comparisons are possible in some cases.

[bi3mw]

It should be noted that in some cases (here You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. and You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view. ) it looks as if the flowers in the VMS were drawn afterwards. They look somehow "inconsistent".

[nablator]

Some coincidental structural resemblance should be expected when comparing drawings of hundreds of mostly normal-looking plants (if the weird parts are overlooked) to other drawings of hundreds of mostly normal-looking plants. The opposite would be extraordinary.

[bi3mw]

Some coincidental structural resemblance should be expected when comparing drawings of hundreds of mostly normal-looking plants (if the weird parts are overlooked) to other drawings of hundreds of mostly normal-looking plants. The opposite would be extraordinary.

Well, the illustrations in the Materia Medica are quite stylized, though. What I would call "normal looking plants" are the illustrations in later works where you can recognize them (with a little imagination).  In the 15th century, the depiction of plants was still dependent on the particular tradition. Therefore, the hit rate of a randomly selected double page in the Materia Medica is quite remarkable ( 5 out of 8, compared to about 140 plants in the VMS ).

Basically I see the comparison with other plant manuscripts as a basis to get something like a categorization at all.

[bi3mw]

I am still in the process of categorizing the plants in the VMS. Here is a start. If anyone wants to join in it is very welcome.

Schemes:
   

Of course, a scheme should appear more than once if it is to be considered as a category. However, the question of how far deviations should be allowed is subjective.

[ReneZ]

If you are going into this direction, I can only recommend you in the strongest possible way to get (or borrow) a copy of:
Felix Andreas Baumann: Das Erbario Carrarese, und die Bildtradition des Tractatus de Herbis (usw.), Bern 1974.

I attach a screen shot of a page.