## <f72v1>          {$I=Z $Q=K $P=H}
# Last edited on 1998-10-09 03:25:19 by stolfi
#
# Identification:
#
#   Title: "Libra"
#   Page: f72v1 = KH (Rene) = p142 (Stolfi)
#   Folio: f72
#   Panels: f72v1
#   Bifolio: bK1 = f71+f72
#   Quire: K (Rene) = XI (Beinecke)
#
#   This page is the innermost verso panel of an eight-panel fold-out.
#
# Attributes:
#
#   Language: ? (Currier)
#   Hand: ? (Currier)
#   Subsets: Z (Rene), zod (Stolfi)
#   Subject: zodiac
#   Colors: yellow(stars) (Reeds)
#
# Description:
#
#   [To be checked and completed]
#
#   Six faint, mostly concentric, mechanically drawn circles delimit
#   three rings of text. The outer ring runs right up to the binding
#   gutter on the right. There may be a wider word gap at 09:00 (but
#   the image is very poor there). A radial stroke cuts across the
#   middle ring at 08:30 (may be a modern scribble).
#
#   The two circles that delimit the inner ring of text are quite 
#   irregular.
#
#   Inside the inner ring there is a two-plate balance scale,
#   slightly offset to the right. The beam is a narrow rectangular
#   ruler, with a darker stripe running down its middle. The pivot is
#   not visible, but seems to be fixed at the bottom of an upright
#   rectangular frame, with a handle or ring on top (partly hidden
#   under the innermost text ring). A narrow triangular pointer rises
#   from the beam's midpoint up to the top of the supporting frame. An
#   object resembling a sliding counterweight seems to be resting over
#   the beam, a little to the left of the pivot. Each end of the beam
#   has a thin horizontal extension, from whose tip there hangs a
#   hemispherical cup with thick walls, supported by three or four
#   straight threads or wires.
#
#   Below the scale there is a single word in non-Voynich script,
#   apparently "oct~ebre" in lowercase Latin cursive (with a
#   tilde or macron over the "te").
#
#   Between the bands of text, there are two bands of naked figures
#   ("nymphs"), 10 in the inner one, 20 in the outer one. Most of them
#   are clearly female (visible breasts, long hair).  All nymphs are naked,
#   mostly in 3/4 view (between frontal and facing clockwise).
#
#   A hole in the vellum, less than 5mm across, covers a small segment
#   of the middle ring. at 03:00. The preceding word runs up to the
#   hole, but is apparently whole. A nymph in the inner band, at
#   03:15, also has the hair squeezed against the hole.
#
#   The outer nymph at 12:15 wears a crown, consisting of a ring of
#   flaring triangular points, each with a dot; and a dome with double
#   outline, topped by a spike or cross (too small to tell).
#
#   Each nymph is holding or pointing to a star.
#
#   There is a Voynichese label just clockwise of each nymph.
#
# Comments:
#
#   The scale is the standard symbol for the sign of Libra.
#   Libra is from ??? to ???.
#
#   The stroke at 08:30, if original, suggests that the text should be
#   read starting from there.
#
#   The way f72v3 overlaps f72v2 indicates that they were drawn in
#   that order.
#
#   The drawing of the balance is very accurate in all details, in
#   spite of the relatively crude perspective and technique. It looks
#   as if the author was very familiar with the instrument. I suspect
#   that the model may be more appropriate for a druggist than for a
#   grocer.
#
#   The details of the drawings around the hole suggest that the
#   hole was already there when the drawing was made.
