#   STYLE AND LAYOUT
#
#   The ram/goat is drawn very skillfully and looks quite realistic,
#   except that the way its front legs bend looks wrong. (But I am 
#   a city boy, what do I know...)
#
#   The barrels are drawn rather poorly: better than those of f71r
#   (Aries light) but worse than those of f70v2 (Pisces). The width
#   and height are quite variable. The perspective is minimally
#   correct, but the top of the barrel is tilted at varying angles
#   relative to the observer, from near edge-on (outer 08:00) to
#   almost face-on (inner 02:30). In three cases (outer 02:45 and
#   03:45, inner 08:00) the top is rendered as an eye, not an ellipse.
#
#   The pattern on the inner barrel at 00:00 is rather peculiar.
#   Unlike the other patterns it is neither symmetric nor repeating;
#   it looks rather like a cubist painting. It looks as if the barrel
#   is made of glass, so that the nymph's legs and hands are showing
#   through. (Perhaps the pattern was drawn to hide a mistake, or 
#   an artistic failure?)
#
#   THE CENTRAL EMBLEM
#
#   The central figure is widely believed to be a symbol of the sign
#   Aries. The word is traditionally read as some variant of the month
#   name "April".  Aries goes from ??? to ???.
#
#   THE TEXT RINGS
#
#   There is no obvious starting place for the text rings. The wider
#   breaks at 04:00 (outer) and 06:00 (inner) are not aligned, and do
#   not seem to be natural choices for starting the text. The binding
#   gutter at 03:00 is not it either, as the text was visibly squeezed
#   to fit in that part of the ring. 
#
#   The most likely starting places, IMHO, are the places at 10:45
#   where the stars intrude into the text bands. Note that the inner
#   star has the special striped "tail", and the outer star is being
#   held high up by the nymph. (However, the first star enters just
#   before a "daiin", and the second one under a word; so there is
#   reason to doubt.)
#
#   THE NYMPHS
#
#   Either the dresses are meant to be transparent, or they were added
#   later, in an attempt to mask the naked bodies.
#
#   THE LABELS
#
#   The outer label at 08:30 (<f70v1.S1.9;U>) reads "otshshdy" in standard EVA.
#   The two "sh" have quite different plumes---the first one is a closed
#   drop-like loop, the second is a open hook.
#
# Last edited on 1999-04-06 07:49:46 by stolfi
