RE: Dragons, Dogs & Amadillos?
R. Sale > 23-08-2021, 08:52 PM
There are several popular interpretations of the VMs critter. Pangolin is one of them, although the VMs critter does not have the long pangolin tail and the orientation of the scales appears to be backwards. It's still an interesting choice, based on appearance - but appearances can be deceptive. And in the VMs they often are.
The critter itself, whatever it is, is only the first element of the illustration. The second part consists of 'curvy' lines below the critter. And the third part is the set of vertical dashes marked at the bottom. The interpretation of the critter needs to coordinate with the other two parts - whatever they are.
Medieval heraldry tells us that the curvy, meandering, serpentine, wavy lines in the illustration are *nebuly* lines because the crests and troughs are bulbous. Nebuly lines are cloud-based, etymologically, from Latin nebula, for 'cloud'. Nebuly lines are used as cloud bands in various medieval illustrations. And cloud bands serve as cosmic boundaries.
The VMs artist demonstrates a familiarity with this interpretation by the use of a nebuly line as a cosmic boundary in the VMs cosmos with 43 undulations, comparable to BNF Fr. 565, the so-called 'Oresme' cosmos of Paris c. 1410.
What then if the nebuly lines with the critter represent cosmic boundaries? What sort of critter was associated with cosmic boundaries in medieval art? Clearly, it would be the Agnus Dei type of image. Still this does not thoroughly explain the third part - - until the discovery of BNF Fr. 13096 f. 18. The similarity of structure is a strong connection. The droplets are explained. And even though this is an old manuscript in the VMs dates, its provenance includes the Burgundian libraries.
This is interesting because another of the interpretations of the VMs critter is that it is the fleecy part of the Golden Fleece in the medallion for the Order of the Golden Fleece - originated in Burgundy in 1430.
So, if both are true, it would seem that the artist had inserted the Burgundian Golden Fleece into the "apocalypse" structure. And this might be viewed as potentially excessive speculation, if considered singularly. However, in combination with the VMs cosmos, as a combination of Oresme and Shirakatsi, plus the VMs 'mermaid' as a combination of Melusine and Lauber/de Metz, there is more than one witness. Combination is part of the artist's technique to create disguise. That is why it has taken longer to rediscover, because it requires both parts to fully interpret the image. Are the hidden parts of the VMs still intact?