Apparently it’s Voynich Art History trivia weekend here at Cipher Mysteries. First up is this and this, both prints of Master E.S.’s “The Visitation” that I found recently:
Engraving; sheet: 6 3/16 x 4 11/16 in. (15.7 x 12 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1922 (22.83.2)
Though classily executed, this is clearly (I think) in the same family as Diebold Lauber’s couples and the Voynich Manuscript Virgo roundel couple.
Ex Libris
I also stumbled upon this nice ex libris at the front of a book owned by Auxiliary Bishop Melchior Fattlin of Constance (1490-1548) (and show me a blogger who doesn’t get a guilty kick out of occasionally linking to catholic-hierarchy.org and I’ll show you a big fat liar):
While eerily reminding me of the Voynich Aries zodiac roundel, this also makes me wonder whether the surname “Fattlin” might have some goat- or sheep-related meaning etc.
Banderoles
The other thing I’m wondering about today is banderoles (aka “speech scrolls”). These started as ornate scrolls filled with text in drawings and paintings, more or less equivalent to modern speech bubbles (e.g. the former by the angel Gabriel, the latter by Garfield).
In the 15th century, these were a favourite of the Master of the Banderoles (active 1450-1475), who Wikipedia rather sniffily describes as a “crude” and “clumsy” copyist of Master E.S. and Rogier van der Weyden.
Here’s a much nicer example from Paris, BnF, lat. 11978, roughly 1450-1472:
Why am I interested in banderoles? Because I can’t see anything that better describes the lines of text spiralling out both from the inverted T-O map and the wolkenband on Voynich Manuscript f68v3.
Codicologically, my suspicion here is that the drawing f68v3 came from was itself derived from a French (specifically Parisian) original, but that that predecessor had only had the four seasons’ banderoles added. The extra four banderoles seem to have been added here as an additional construction layer. That is, I suspect that if you looked under a microscope at the boundaries where the extra four banderoles join on to the wolkenband, you would see the marks where the wolkenband was drawn but then erased to add in the extra four banderoles.
Having said that, I haven’t yet found a single fifteenth century astronomical drawing with banderole-style annotation. Perhaps this is something we should be looking for.
Hi Nick
For the Visitation, check the example I posted here: https://www.voynich.ninja/thread-591-post-30100.html#pid30100
So apparently there custom of “kind-of-handshaking” in Visitation imagery. I don’t know if it relates to our examples. The 14th century statuette is still interesting though, because of its style and degree of preservation.
The engravings are very interesting. I would have guessed they were executed a decade or two later. If they are from the 1460s, they are very good for their time.
They are both attributed to Master ES, and they do look like they came out of the same workshop but they don’t look like thy were done by the same engraver.
I notice it says “German” for the engraver. The engraving with the closer portal includes northern architecture (staircased roof) and a stork. This theme is found in number of places, but it is more often seen along the coast of northern France/Flanders and in Saxony, and in the small pockets in Switzerland where there were Scandinavian settlers. The way it is combined with a saddleback portal suggests Switzerland or thereabouts.
The other has a fully formed onion dome. Very rare to see this shape in the 1460s. Partial onion-domes were drawn quite often in the 15th century, but ones with a full curve on the bottom side were very uncommon before the end of the 15th century.
The pose is two women and the one on the left has two hands on the left arm of the other one, while the one on the right hand has her hand in the air, not touching. It’s certainly very similar to a marriage pose.
I haven’t had a chance to look around, but this may also be a specific pose—a comforting pose maybe?
I just looked around and the “Visitation” pose does seem to have some regional differences.
In some versions, the hand is distinctly on the pregnant belly rather than the arm. In others, the arms reach out in front rather than crossing or grasping the forearm.
I should have paid more attention when Koen posted that beautiful example on the ninja forum but there is never enough time to look at everything. 🙂
Nick,
I note that all the circular diagrams of the VM appear to have been laid out using a compass drawing tool but this raises some questions.
I note that the circles are inscribed with fine lines (uniform and very narrow thickness with uniform ink/pigment lay down) and I wonder how this might have been achieved in the 15th Century.
I have not been able to find much regarding the history of the drawing compass.
The ink/pigment lines of the circles are uniform and don’t look to me to be merely scratches on the parchment. The lines are too fine to be ink lines from any pen that would have been available in the 15th Century and lead (graphite) pencils, or anything similar, also don’t appear to have been available.
http://www.historyofpencils.com/drawing-tools/drawing-compass/
“First drawing compasses were found in the archaeological digging of ancient Rome. Every drawing compass before the eighteenth century didn’t have a pen but a needle instead so it scratches the surface.”
https://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/epact/article.php?ArticleID=6
“Dividers for craft use are often large devices made in iron, sometimes with a screw between the two legs in order to adjust and fix their opening. As a mathematical instrument, dividers are found on a smaller scale, typically made in brass with steel points, though more precious materials such as silver have also been used.
Although ancient examples have been recovered (for example, those found at Pompeii) the major stream of surviving instruments begins in the 16th century. By this period, dividers were available with a socket in one of the legs so that either a divider point or a crayon or pencil holder could be inserted. In the latter configuration, as a device for drawing circles, the dividers became a pair of compasses.”
My question is if any other examples of circular diagrams made with a compass/divider are known from the 15th Century. I feel that very few individuals would have possessed a compass/divider in the 15th Century and that this tool would have only been owned by an architect, a mathematician or an astronomer. The visual content of the VM suggests an astronomer to me. And that further suggests that the VM might contain either heretical astronomy/astrology ideas or new astronomical observations that the owner wished to keep secret.
Byron: there’s a little discussion from 2003 on this subject:
* http://www.voynich.net/Arch/2003/08/msg00065.html
* http://www.voynich.net/Arch/2003/08/msg00068.html
* http://www.voynich.net/Arch/2003/08/msg00074.html
* http://www.voynich.net/Arch/2003/08/msg00078.html
Byron: I’d also note that the Voynich does still have some lead markings on the (presumably unfinished) herbal page f55r, which I’ve always suspected were original. Note that I suspect that the red and blue paint on this page were added much later (say, 150+ years later), so the original ‘alpha’ state of the manuscript was only partially painted, i.e. it would have looked very plain, if not unfinished.
The only thing that isn’t clear to me is why there is no evidence of a central point / mark / indentation where the other end of the circinus went. Or perhaps there is, but nobody has yet thought to look for it. I didn’t think to look for these in 2006, but certainly should have done. 🙁
Cryptic art is helpful to navigation through darkness. Left, right, hands, scars, nail or no nail
Nick – the number of 8 (or 4×2) is significant, I expect. And technically that central section, divided into three, is not described as an ‘inverted T-O’ (as I think Ellie first mis-described it) , but an an ‘orb’ form. The ‘orb’ replaces not the T-O but the book to symbolise Christ as ruler of the world and in latin art that innovation is actually attributed to Bacon. With the cloudband (only described as ‘wolkenband’ these days if you’re writing in German), it appears in many images from that time onwards. I illustrated the fact by reference to images for Gower’s Vox Clamantis, in which (I was gratified to see) even some of the German-Voynich theorists later followed me. Gower lived 1330 – October 1408.
Cheers
D.N., you make frequent references to these “German-Voynich theorists”. Could you please let me know who they are. Or can you provide links?
Diane: as I understand it, “cloudband(s)” is typically used when describing the visual band-of-clouds motif used in Asiatic art, while “wolkenband(en)” is typically used when describing the visual band-of-clouds motif used in European art.
Oh I see, Nick – that’s why you’ve been using it. No – it was part of the aesthetic pretentions of last century to include a multiplicity of loan words but most have now been dropped except a few which remain the most elegant way to describe a thing e.g. “light-and-dark” (chiaroscuro) or ‘scratching through an outer layer to reveal the inner” (sgrafito)…. but most of the older French and German borrowings were dropped quite a few decades ago and now seem a little quaint – except, of course, if you’re writing in French or German, when the opposite is usually true.
They remain listed in dictionaries, of course because people still read nineteenth- and early-twentieth century writers on art. The rule is that if there’s a perfectly good, simple English equivalent, that’s what you use. Like ‘cloudband’. True, its origin is eastern and we can trace its transmission into Europe, but there it melded with another type of ornamental border design with a much longer history (as I illustrated fairly copiously when treating this point over a number of years – and posts). That other motif also indicated ‘the margin’ so now the definition depends partly on the form, and partly on the application as to whether the design is treated as a version of the ‘margin’ in general or more particularly that margin of the world marked by the band of clouds as limit of the human domain. Anyway, in my opinion a majority of the usages in the Vms can be identified with the margin-as-cloudband without necessarily having to engage in detailed historical discussion of the Asian cloudband’s progress in Europe. I think the intention of the drawing is more likely to help those trying (if anyone is still trying) to understand the written part of this text.
Diane: I find this non-debate you’re dredging up here terribly yawnsome – but if I’ve repeatedly broken your supposed rule for the sake of historical clarity, I think I’m happy to plead guilty.
Nick, I conducted some experiments with a home made lead plummet (aka leadpoint or plumbum) and found that it leaves a fine line on a variety of writing surfaces (paper, cardboard, wood) similar to the fine lines delineating the circular diagrams of the VM.
In theory it should be possible to obtain a trace metal and isotopic finger print of the lead plummet marks and this could then identify the location from where the lead was obtained. I think that sources of lead ore were sufficiently common in Europe, and the technique for smelting lead from lead ore was sufficiently well known and easy (it can be done with ease in a simple kitchen fire) that many of the plummets would have been made from lead ore locally obtained.
I realise that nobody here could undertake such an investigation but I am hopeful that this will meet the eyes of persons who might be interested in such a study. If the study was successful I think it could have wide application in the study of manuscripts. The provenance of the lead could be cross checked against both the phytochemical signature of the iron gall ink (to identify the species of oak and hence the locality from where the oak galls were obtained) and the trace element and isotopic signatures of the pigments. If there is more than one mineral pigment available then this would increase the number of potential “locators” to four or more. Yes, some of the materials could come from far away but some would surely be locally sourced. In any case a study of the sources of the materials would better inform us about things like trade and commerce in the past.
Byron: this is a really good idea, thanks for suggesting it! 🙂
Note that there is a Herbal B page (f55r) that has some red lead outlines drawn on it (possibly implying that the Voynich Manuscript was originally left in an unfinished state), and this would surely be the best candidate for a trace metal / isotopic analysis.
Are there existing databases holding analyses of lead sources in Europe?
Nick, OXALID Oxford Archaeological Lead Isotope Database would probably be the most extensive.
http://oxalid.arch.ox.ac.uk/The%20Database/TheDatabase.htm
Byron: an excellent resource, thanks! 🙂
I also found “Mining, Metallurgy, and Minting in the Middle Ages: Continuing Afro-European Supremacy, 1250-1450.” (2001) by Ian Blanchard, where enough of the pages are visible online to tell that it covers the story of European lead during the period we’re interested in.
By 1400, the Harz lead mines (that had dominated most of the Middle Ages) had collapsed, leaving the market clear for English lead and then Polish lead: but by 1420, the big new market player was cheap Bosnian lead, which quickly became the preferred supplier for most of Southern Europe. But with the fall of Constantinople, the Bosnian supply chain got stopped, so by 1460 there was basically no more Bosnian lead on the market.
So it would seem (historically) that the main sources for lead 1410-1450 were Bosnian lead (-> Southern European), Poland (-> German/Belgian/Holland/Poland), England (England/Northern France) or Spain (-> Spanish/Portugal). Which is only probabilistic, but it might be a start. 🙂
Very interesting topic.
Nick: Question?
Lead and Poland.
Are you kidding me?
Peter: no, it’s true. Krakow and then Olmusz were big suppliers, though mainly to Germany and Hungary in the time period we’re interested in. (e.g. p.1474 of MMMMA.)
For the benefit of B. Devious, Thomas M. and others not aquainted , our English word ‘lead’ is a very soft greyish mined metal, known also by it’s chemical term PB which some scholars would normally Latinise to ‘plumbum’. So Byron was a little off the mark in equating it as an aka of his simple pendulum plummet. Perhaps he meant plumb bob or lead line, a weighted instrument on a string used to calculate depth or finding dead centre of gravity for instance. With regard to it’s having left lead residue marks upon contact with certain materials, we might have seen it coming as any semi soft oxide mineral might leave similar traces eg. Bauxite, Zinc or even lead graphite as used in pencils from the late 18th century…Now there’s an idea what?..
JS, Devious? I haven’t been called that since school! That takes me back. A rather Dickensian schooling it was too.
Plummet is the correct term. See:
https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/GlossL.asp
“A lead point, also known as plummet, is a piece of lead alloy, sometimes contained in a holder (the precursor of the pencil), which could be used for drawing, annotation, and RULING. Lead point began to be widely used in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Graphite, derived from carbon, was not generally used before the seventeenth century. See also HARD POINT and METAL POINT.”
Many soft minerals might discolour paper or parchment (in fact they do) but they would not be suitable for the task of making a fine and relatively indelible line such as we see in the VM. We also see these fine indelible lines in many Medieval manuscripts.
Lead was almost certainly used because it was the best material. I conducted a lot of mineral “streak tests” when I was younger (mineralogy as a hobby) and I know for a fact that no common mineral could perform as well as a lead point (plummet). Lead ore in small quantities is relatively common in Europe and smelting lead from the ore only requires a small fire. Simple and easy to do in a Medieval kitchen.
I should add that pollen entrapped in the ink could also be used to define the geograhic locality where the VM was penned. This has previously been suggested by others. So, if all these tests were performed we could have five or six “locators” and these, with some luck, should form a sort of geographic Venn diagram with the overlapping area being well circumscribed.
B.D., Point taken Byron and trust that use of your nickname give you a smile. Thanks for the explanation of ‘lead point’ which I accept, but which raises a question; If it were to be used with a holder in medieaval times, could that include a compass for drawing circles, subject of which I have raised before, apropos knowledge of the instrument’s said application in those times.
Silverpoint was sometimes used for fine lines in the Middle Ages, both for diagrams and drawings.
I’ve used it. It’s not too different from drawing with a very fine pencil except that it’s much more subtle, more difficult to get strong contrast, slightly more finicky (it will bend if you press hard, it’s a bit uncomfortable to use without a handle, and you have to grip it tight near the tip, almost with your fingernails). It does make a nice line, however.
Silver is soft, it wears down fast, and more costly than other materials, of course, so this would have limited its use, but you can probably find examples on the Web.
@Nick
The question is, why do you come to Poland for lead?
Do you think that VM has something to do with Poland ?
Lead was mined in many places.
Places with the word “Blei” indicate mining.
Bleistadt, Bleiberg, Bad Bleistadt…….etc.
There’s good reason to put Poland on the list of possible origins for the VMS.
Count Lasky brought Dee and Kelley to Poland before they journeyed to Prague.
We don’t know if Dee or Kelley actually sold the VMS (or any manuscript) to the Emperor, but the possibility is there. Dee was an ardent collector of books. Maybe Lasky gave or sold it to Dee or Kelley. Or maybe they came across it in Poland while searching for books in general.
Poland had strong linguistic ties with Czech. When I was studying alphabets, I read that the Polish and Czech languages were more similar in the Middle Ages than they are now (which, of course, increases communication and a sense of community and connectedness), and I think ReneZ mentioned something similar in a recent forum post.
So the connections between Prague and Poland might have been stronger then, (I don’t know if this is so, but it’s something to consider… however, there is a complication in this idea in that some of the emperors insisted on German as the official language rather than Czech).
Peter: my argument is the other way around, i.e. we might, with the Beinecke’s help, be able to use (as ‘Devious’ Byron Deveson helpfully pointed out) a trace metal and isotopic analysis of the red lead used on page f55r. This might point to one of a number of lead mining areas in Europe, each of which in turn only typically sold to a small geographic area. In the time period we’re interested in, lead mines in Poland, England, Spain, Bosnia were all active: Poland was the main supplier for the German region, while Bosnia was the main supplier for the Italian region, etc.
It wouldn’t be conclusive proof of origin, but it would be an interesting data-point nonetheless. 🙂
Ants. Certainly it is not problem to find out very quickly….how much silver and lead was mined in the Czech, in the Middle Ages. You will surely be surprised. 🙂
An isotope analysis would certainly be a good thing.
One of the most important investigations of metals at the time was the disc of Nebra and the bronze axe of Ötzi.
It’s good to see what can be done and proven today.
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Himmelsscheibe_von_Nebra
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%96tzi
There is no reason to consider Poland or the Czech Republic as place of origin.
A linguistic connection between Poland and the Czech Republic is not a connection to the VM. Such a language is not apparent and the pictures do not fit either.
And no, it was not Eliska either !!!
Peter: be careful, physical evidence has a nasty habit of making those who say “it can’t…” look foolish. :-/
You’d be surprised, Peter. Bohemia, in general, had very similar scribal conventions to eastern Germany and northern Italy (which was Lombardy at the time). The same was true of southern Scandinavia (which had many ancestral ties with northeastern Europe). Numerous eastern European scholars became professors in other countries.
I don’t think Poland would be at the top of the list. It’s unlikely that a manuscript of Polish origin would have Ghibelline merlons, but I would certainly not exclude it out of hand since many people traveled (including illuminators, scribes, doctors, teachers, and numerous other professionals), and some of them documented their travels.
As for the language (if there is one), we have no idea what it is, so striking any language off the list would be premature.
Of course there are no big differences to Bohemia.
Bohemia speaks 40% German.
With fairy tales more people in the Czech Republic speak German 50% than Czech.
https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Die_deutsche_Sprache_in_B%C3%B6hmen
There are so many indications that I don’t have to rely on the battlements alone.
But all together they say that Poland and Czech Republic are out of the question.
So you don’t think there’s any possibility at all that it might have originated in Prague, possibly designed by someone from somewhere else who came to Prague to seek patronage from the Emperor?
If I look at all the clues, and use all the possibilities where it would be possible without straining my findings.
That leaves maybe 5%. That’s only because I can’t rule out that the author visited Prague once. From the manuscript itself 0%.
And we are talking about the time around 1420 and not 1600.
Peter: we have lots of I-think-its-like-this speculative Voynich narratives, but very few evidence-based Voynich microhistories.
We must tread warily where Peter M. Is concerned, suggesting that the Czechs or Pols may have beaten their neighbour to the punch re VM creativity. Some are still of the view that by goose stepping over their borders in the late thirties was merely punishment for theft of intellectual property over time.
The origins of the authors/illustrators and the origin of the manuscript may be different. Several people were involved in creating it.
The cultural clues might be an amalgam of different creators (not specific to one person), or might be specific to the illustrator and not necessarily to the designer of the text (they might be different people who came from different countries).
Latin was still a unifying force among scholars in the 15th century, so coming from a different region wouldn’t hinder communication among collaborators with disparate backgrounds.
These are the small hints where to work together.
Example:
The battlements don’t fit to the north.
The names of the months are not written in Latin. The ending -bre does not fit to the north.
But the merlons and -bre do fit together.
Small hints form groups. Several groups are more reliable than one possibility.
Not all plants are also found in the north. But they do in the south.
Without paying close attention to details, Group A confirms it.
So it continues step by step.
If I continue like this, Poland and the Czech Republic will be at 0%.
It’s my belief that the month labels were added later.
The person who added the month labels might not have had anything to do with the creation of the VMS. The text defaces the drawings by scrawling over them. Whoever added them didn’t care whether it damaged the drawings. Whoever created the VMS was more careful about not defacing the drawings.
I also believe, based on my research, that the month labels are probably Provençal. There were many dialects there and some of the spellings fit. I have collected examples that are the same.